:-NRLF 


University  of  California 


JIVEES 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


AMBROSE  E.  BURNSLDE, 

(A  SENATOR  FROM  RHODE  ISLAND), 


DELIVERED  IN  TIIK 


SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  BEPRESENTATIVES, 


%      FORTY-SEVENTH  CONGRESS,  FIRST  SESSION, 
U 


JANTJABY  23,  1882, 


THE   PROCEEDINGS   CONNECTED   WITH   THE 
FUNERAL  OF  THE  DECEASED. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE. 

188-2. 


JOINT  EESOLTJTION  to  print  certain  eulogies  delivered  in  Congress  upon  the  late  Fer 
nando  Wood,  Matt.  H.  Carpenter,  and  Ambrose  E.  Burnside. 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  there  be  printed  twelve  thousand  copies 
respectively  of  the  eulogies  delivered  in  Congress  upon  the  late  Fernando 
Wood,  a  Representative  from  the  State  of  New  York ;  Matt.  H.  Carpenter,  a 
Senator  from  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  and  Ambrose  E.  Burnside,  a  Senator 
from  the  State  of  Ehode  Island,  of  each  of  which  four  thousand  shall  be  for 
the  Senate  and  eight  thousand  for  the  use  of  the  House  of  Representatives ; 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  directed  to  have 
printed  portraits  of  the  three  above  named  Messrs.  Wood,  Carpenter,  and 
Burnside  to  accompany  their  respective  eulogies;  and  for  the  purpose  ..of 
defraying  the  expense  of  engraving  and  printing  the  said  portraits  the  sum 
of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  necessary,  be,  and 
the  same  is  hereby,  appropriated  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  other 
wise  appropriated. 

Approved  February  15,  1882. 
2 


ANNOUNCEMENT 


OF   THE 


DEATH  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE, 

A  SENATOR  FROM  RHODE  ISLAND. 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
Wednesday,  October  12,  1881. 


Rev.  J.  J.  BULLOCK,  D.  D.,  Chaplain  to  the  Senate,  offered  the 
following 

PKAYER. 

Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  in  obedience  to  the  call  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  we  have  met  together  this  day. 
We  meet  under  circumstances  of  the  greatest  solemnity,  for  since 
our  last  meeting  it  has  seemed  good  unto  Thee  in  Thine  inscrutable 
wisdom  to  permit  the  messenger  of  death  to  remove  from  this  world 
by  the  hand  of  violence  the  distinguished  head  of  this  nation. 

We  mourn  also  the  death  of  a  Senator  greatly  beloved  and  hon 
ored  ;  and  the  respected  Secretary,  and  other  officers  of  this  body. 
We  would  bow  submissively  to  Thy  will,  beseeching  Thee  to  sanc 
tify  to  us  these  solemn  events.  Deeply  impress  upon  our  minds  a 
sense  of  our  mortality,  of  the  shortness  and  uncertainty  of  life ;  and 
may  we  so  live  as  ever  to  be  ready  for  our  departure  when  it  shall 
be  Thy  will  to  call  us  hence. 


4  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

We  pray  for  the  bereaved  family  of  the  deceased  President  of 
these  United  States.  Sustain  and  comfort  them  in  the  time  of  their 
severe  affliction. 

Most  Gracious  God,  we  offer  up  our  sincere  and  earnest  prayers 
for  Thy  servant  who  has  been  called  in  Thy  providence  to  succeed 
to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  this  great  people.  May  he  be  plente- 
ously  endued  with  heavenly  grace  and  wisdom  to  aid  him  in  the 
discharge  of  the  high  trust  which  has  been  committed  to  his  hands. 
Make  him  a  blessing  to  the  whole  country  and  to  the  world. 

And  now,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  invoke  thine  especial  bless 
ing  upon  the  Senate  now  assembled.  Preside  over  their  delibera 
tions,  guide  their  councils,  and  lead  them  to  such  action  as  shall 
redound  to  Thy  glory  and  to  the  best  interests  of  our  common 
country. 

Most  Merciful  God,  we  implore  Thy  grace  and  the  forgiveness 
of  all  our  sins.  These  and  all  other  blessings  we  ask  in  the  name 
o'f  Christ,  our  Divine  Redeemer.  Amen. 

Mr.  ANTHONY.  Mr.  President,  I  rise  to  perform  a  most 
mournful  duty.  I  present  certain  resolutions  passed  by  the  city 
council  of  the  city  of  Providence  upon  the  death  of  my  late  col 
league,  AMBROSE  EVERETT  BURNSIDE.  Contrary  to  my  usual 
custom,  I  ask  that  they  be  read  and  that  they  be  entered  at  length 
on  the  Journal. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  resolutions  will  be  read  at 
the  desk. 

The  Chief  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

TKE  CITY  OF  PROVIDENCE. 
Joint  resolutions  of  the  city  council. 

Whereas  General  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE,  United  States  Senator  for  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island,  died  September  13,  1881 ;  and 
Whereas  his  remains  are  to  lie  in  state  in  the  city  hall  in  the  city  of  Provi- 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  SENATE.  5 

dence  until  the  day  of  his  funeral  on  Friday,  September  16,  1881,  at  twelve 
o'clock  noon :  Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  city  council  of  said  city  of  Providence,  representing 
the  feelings  of  sorrow  which  our  citizens  share  alike  in  the  death  of  a  brave 
and  distinguished  soldier,  a  high-minded  legislator  and  citizen,  do  hereby 
recognize  the  great  loss  sustained  by  the  nation,  the  State,  and  the  city. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased  soldier 
and  statesman,  the  city  hall  be  closed  to  the  transaction  of  publio  business 
from  eleven  o'clock  a.  m.  on  Thursday,  September  15,  1881,  to  the  Saturday 
following,  at  nine  o'clock  a.  m.,  and  that  the  city  council  attend  his  funeral 
in  a  body. 

Resolved,  That  the  city  clerk  be  hereby  directed  to  transmit  copies  of  the 
aforegoing  to  the  family  of  General  BUKXSIDE  and  to  the  United  States 
Senate. 

Passed  in  common  council,  September  14,  1881 ;  in  board  of  aldermen  same 
day. 

Approved  September  14,  1881. 

WILLIAM  S,  HAYWARD,  Mayor. 

A  true  copy  of  record. 

Attest:  HENRY  V.  A.  JOSLIN,  City  Clerk. 

Mr.  ANTHONY.  Mr.  President,  the  sad  event  which  these  reso 
lutions  deplore  occurred  at  the  country  house  of  General  BURN- 
SIDE,  near  Bristol,  on  the  morning  of  the  13th  of  September,  by  a 
disease  so  insidious  and  so  rapid,  that  it  did  not  assume  a  threaten 
ing  aspect  until  within  an  hour  of  its  fatal  termination. 

This  sudden  and  unexpected  bereavement  threw  the  State  into 
mourning.  Every  man  in  it  felt  that  he  had  lost  a  friend,  a  brother, 
a  father,  or  a  son.  The  Governor,  responsive  to  the  general  desire, 
ordered  to  his  memory  the  honor  of  a  public  funeral,  and  charged 
himself  with  the  execution  of  the  order.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
imposing  and  wonderful  demonstrations  of  public  respect  and  popu 
lar  affection  ever  witnessed  in  the  State.  The  officials  and  the  chief 
dignitaries  of  the  State  participated  in  the  solemn  ceremonies.  Dis 
tinguished  personages  from  without  the  State,  including  members  of 
both  Houses  of  Congress,  some  from  far  distances,  and  at  great  per 
sonal  inconvenience,  attended  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  respect  to 
Rhode  Island's  dead  Senator. 

The  melancholy  procession  wound  its  slow  way  through  streets 


6  LIFE  AND  CHAEACTEE  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BUENSIDE. 

lined  with  a  sorrowing  population  and  somber  with  the  draperies 
of  woe.  Loving  hands  laid  his  form  by  the  side  of  the  bride  of 
his  youth;  his  old  companions  in  arms  discharged  their  farewell 
volleys  over  his  grave. 

Already  measures  have  been  inaugurated  for  the  erection  of  a 
statue  which  shall  attest  to  coming  generations  how  dear  he  was  to 
the  people  whom  he  served  so  well  and  so  faithfully. 

Such  honors  Ilion  to  her  hero  paid, 

And  peaceful  slept  the  mighty  Hector's  shade. 

At  a  future  time,  Mr.  President,  when  the  other  House  of  Con 
gress  shall  i>e  in  session,  to  respond  to  the  action  of  this,  my  col 
league  and  myself  will  ask  the  suspension  of  public  business,  that 
the  Senate  may  pay  fitting  tribute  to  the  character,  the  virtues,  and 
the  services  of  General  BUENSIDE. 

I  move,  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  his  memory,  that  the  Senate  do 
now  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to ;  and  (at  twelve  o'clock  and  forty- 
three  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned. 


ADDRESSES 

ON   THE 

DEATH  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE, 

A  SENATOR  FROM  RIIODE  ISLAND. 


DELIVERED  IN  THE  SENATE, 

Monday,  January  23,  1882. 


Mr.  ANTHONY.  Pursuant  to  notice  given  last  week,  I  submit 
the  resolutions  that  I  hold  in  my  hand,  and  I  ask  that  the  Senate 
proceed  to  their  present  consideration. 

The  PEESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  resolutions  submitted  by  the 
Senator  from  Rhode  Island  will  be  read. 

The  Acting  Secretary  read  the  resolutions,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  from  au  earnest  desire  to  show  every  mark  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  Hon.  AMBKOSE  E.  BURNSIDE,  late  a  Senator  of  the  United  States 
from  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  to  manifest  the  high  estimate  entertained 
of  his  eminent  public  services  aud  his  distinguished  patriotism,  the  business 
of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended  that  his  friends  and  associates  may  pay  fitting 
tribute  to  his  public  and  private  virtues. 

Resolved,  That  a  widespread  and  public  sorrow  on  the  announcement  of  his 
death  attested  the  profound  sense  of  the  loss  which  the  whole  country  has 
sustained. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  these  resolutions 
to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

Resolved,  That  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  Sena 
tor  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

7 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 


Address  of  Mr.  ANTHONY,  of  Rhode  Island. 

No  bugle  must  sound, 

Ye  bright  waving  banners,  stoop  low! 
Let  your  lances  with  Cyprus  be  bound, 

Let  the  drums  be  all  silent  in  woe. 

Mr.  PEESIDENT  :  I  have  risen  to  perform  the  very  saddest  office 
that  has  fallen  to  me  in  all  my  public  service. 

The  sudden  death  of  General  BURNSIDE,  in  the  full  vigor  and 
strength  of  his  manhood,  sent,  through  the  State  of  Rhode  Island, 
a  shock  that  was  echoed  back,  in  messages  of  sympathy  and  condo 
lence,  from  every  part  of  the  country  and  from  foreign  lands.  The 
nation,  which  was  watching,  in  alternate  hope  and  fear,  the  ebbing 
life  of  its  elected  chief,  turned,  for  a  moment,  from  the  bedside  of 
the  dying  Garfield,  to  lament  the  dead  BURNSIDE.  In  this  body, 
the  death  of  no  one  among  us  could  have  moved  the  Senate  to  a  pro- 
founder  sense  of  sorrow.  His  bier  has  been  moistened  by  the  tears 
of  a  State;  his  tomb  is  garlanded  by  the  admiration  of  a  nation. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  upon  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  General 
BURNSIDE;  scarcely  even  of  his  character.  The  most  important 
part  of  that  life  was  passed  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and  his 
deeds  are  a  part  of  his  country's  history ;  and  so  long  as  New  Berne 
and  Roanoke  Island,  and  South  Mountain,  and  Antietam  and 
Knoxville  are  remembered,  his  services  and  his  fame  will  not  be 
forgotten. 

General  BURNSIDE  was  born  at  Liberty,  Union  County,  Indiana, 
May  23,  1824.  His  family  was  of  Scotch  descent.  His  great 
grandfather,  Robert  Burnside,  with  two  brothers,  had  espoused  the 
cause  of  Charles  Edward,  and  after  the  triumph  of  the  British 
arms,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Pretender,  at  Culloden,  sought  an 
asylum  in  South  Carolina,  The  General's  grandfather,  James 
Burnside,  married  a  daughter  of  James  Edghill,  an  Englishman 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ANTHONY,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  9 

by  birth.  His  son,  the  father  of  the  General,  bore  his  mother's 
paternal  name,  Edghill  Burnside.  He  was  born  in  South  Carolina, 
but  removed  to  the  Territory  of  Indiana.  He  appears  to  have 
sympathized  with  the  conscientious  repugnance  to  slavery,  which, 
even  at  that  early  day,  had  been  aroused  in  the  Carolinas,  for  he 
freed  his  slaves,  and  accompanied  the  "Quaker  Emigration"  to  the 
West,  which  was  dedicated  to  freedom,  by  the  ordinance  of  1787. 
In  his  new  home  he  maintained  a  character  of  high  respectability 
and  influence;  was  for  a  long  time  clerk  of  the  county  court,  an 
associate  justice  of  the  same,  and  a  senator  in  the  legislature  of  the 
State.  Ambrose  was  his  youngest  son.  He  gave  him  a  good 
English  education,  in  the  schools  of  the  neighborhood;  and  in 
1843  he  entered,  as  a  cadet,  at  West  Point.  At  the  Academy  he 
was  not  a  hard  student.  With  exuberant  animal  spirits,  of  vigor 
ous  bodily  strength,  he  became  expert  in  military  and  athletic 
exercises,  while  his  aptitude  in  mathematics,  then,  as  now,  ranking 
high  in  the  curriculum  of  studies,  compensated  for  his  deficiency  of 
literary  application,  and  gave  him  an  excellent  average  standing; 
and  he  graduated  at  eighteen,  in  a  class  of  thirty-eight. 

Among  his  classmates  and  fellow-students  were  many  who  sub 
sequently  rose  to  distinction,  on  one  side  or  the  other,  in  the  late 
unhappy  war.  Of  his  own  class  were  Generals  Wilcox,  Fry, 
Gibson,  Long,  Griffin,  Viele,  and  Hunt  on  the  Union  side,  and 
A.  P.  Hill  and  Heth  on  the  otlier.  This  class  furnished  twenty- 
eight  officers  who  adhered  to  the  flag,  and  four  who  took  up  arms 
against  it.  Six  had  previously  died  or  resigned.  Among  his 
fellow-students  were  Generals  McClellan,  Hancock,  Pleasanton, 
Fitz-John  Porter,  Gilmore,  Parke,  Reno,  Foster,  William  F.  Smith, 
C.  P.  Stone,  Hatch,  Sackett,  Granger,  Stoneman,  Russell,  Pitcher, 
Gibbs,  Gordon,  Michler,  Duane,  Tidball,  Benet,  Bond,  McKeever, 
and  Buford,  who  supported  the  Union,  and  Jackson  (Stonewall), 
Maxey  (Senator),  Buckner,  Rhett,  E.  K.  Smith,  Bee,  W.  D.  Smith, 


10  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNS1DE. 

D.  R.  Jones,  Wilcox,  Pickett,  Ben  Robinson,  T.  A.  Washington, 
Thomas  K.  Jackson,  G.  H.  Steuart,  and  Withers,  who  opposed  it. 
Immediately  upon  his  graduation,  BURNSIDE  joined  the  Army, 
and  was  sent  to  Mexico,  with  which  the  United  States  were  at  war. 
Active  negotiations  for  peace  had  commenced  before  he  reached  the 
seat  of  war,  in  which  he  took  no  part,  except  to  escort  a  baggage 
train  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  capital  city,  through  a  hostile  country, 
filled  with  guerrillas,  a  service  which  he  performed  with  such  skill 
and  discretion  as  gave  promise  of  future  distinction,  and  received 
the  commendation  of  his  superiors.  After  that,  as  first  lieutenant 
in  Bragg's  battery,  organized  as  cavalry,  he  was  employed  in  the 
difficult  and  perilous  duty  of  escorting  the  mails  across  the  plains 
infested  by  hostile  savages. 

In  1853,  having  invented  a  Jbreech-loading  rifle,  which,  although 
since  superseded  by  later  inventions,  was  a  great  improvement  over 
any  then  in  use,  he  resigned  his  commission,  and  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  this  new  weapon  at  Bristol.  The  enterprise  proved 
unfortunate.  He  failed  to  secure  a  contract  with  the  government, 
not  from  the  lack  of  merit  in  the  invention,  but  from  his  indignant 
refusal  to  employ  the  intervention  of  a  lobbyist,  or  middle  man, 
who  enjoyed  the  favor  of  the  War  Department.  Leaving  Bristol, 
for  which  he  always  retained  the  strongest  attachment,  and  where 
he  afterward  returned  and  set  up  his  household  gods,  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  of  which  his 
friend  and  fellow-student,  General  McClellan,  was  vice-president, 
and  where  he  soon  rose  to  the  important  position  of  treasurer. 

At  this  time.  General  BURNSIDE  was  a  Democrat  in  his  politics. 
He  had  run  as  a  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress  in  his  district 
in  Rhode  Island.  During  the  agitation  that  preceded  the  outbreak 
of  the  rebellion  he  strongly  urged  the  restoration  of  harmony  and 
the  preservation  of  the  Union,  by  peaceful  means,  to  avoid  the 
conflict  of  arms.  To  this  end  he  was  ready  to  make  important 


ADDRESS  OF  MB.  ANTHONY,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  \  1 

concessions  to  allay  the  Southern  discontent.  But  when  the  first 
gun  upon  Fort  Sumter  fired  alike  the  Southern  and  the  North 
ern  heart,  he  promptly,  and  without  a  moment's  hesitation, 
offered  to  his  country  the  sword  that  she  had  taught  him  to  use. 
He  was  selected  for  the  command  of  the  First  Rhode  Island 
Regiment.  In  reply  to  a  dispatch  from  Governor  Sprague,  inquir 
ing  how  soon  he  could  leave  for  his  command,  he  answered  "at 
once";  and  the  next  morning  he  was  in  Providence  busily  engaged 
in  organizing  and  preparing  it.  In  an  incredibly  short  time  the 
regiment  was  raised  and  equipped ;  and  in  two  days  after  the  first 
man  was  enlisted  a  battery  of  six  rifled  guns  with  five  hundred 
men  was  on  its  way  to  Washington,  and  in  two  days  more  the  rest 
of  the  regiment  followed.  Notwithstanding  this  promptness,  such 
was  the  vigor  of  the  Colonel,  seconded  by  his  subordinate  officers, 
and  such  his  valuable  military  experience,  that  the  regiment  left 
fully  armed,  equipped,  and  provisioned,  and  gained  the  highest 
praise  by  its  appearance  of  discipline,  efficiency,  and  soldierly 
bearing.  None  of  the  new  and  hastily  organized  regiments  came 
into  the  service  better  prepared  for  their  duties.  Its  evening  parade 
was  a  favorite  resort  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  who,  accompanied  by  high 
dignitaries,  civil  and  military,  often  came  to  witness  and  admire  its 
evolutions. 

In  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  which  followed,  Colonel  BURNSIDE 
commanded  a  brigade,  and,  as  was  justly  said  in  a  memoir  read  before 
the  Loyal  Legion  by  Colonel  William  Goddard,  who  served  under 
him,  "no  share  in  the  disasters  of  that  conflict  can  be  assigned  to 
him  or  to  his  troops."  In  the  autumn  of  1861,  General  BUENSIDE, 
raised  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  took  command  of  the  "  Burn- 
side  Expedition  "  to  the  coast  of  North  Carolina.  The  conception, 
the  plan,  and  the  execution  of  that  important  enterprise  attest  the 
uncommon  military  ability  of  its  originator  and  leader.  The  secret 
of  the  expedition  was  well  kept,  kept  even  from  the  penetrating 


12  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

scrutiny  of  the  newspapers.  It  sailed  in  January,  1862,  the  object 
ive  point  being  known  only  to  the  commander  and  the  few  confiden 
tial  officers  whom  it  was  necessary  to  intrust  with  the  information. 
A  violent  storm  struck  the  fleet,  off  Hatteras,  and  dispersed  the  ves 
sels,  so  that  more  than  a  week  elapsed  before  they  reached  the  ren 
dezvous.  There  they  encountered  a  succession  of  gales,  which 
threatened  them  with  destruction.  The  ships  were  crowded  into  a 
narrow  space,  with  insufficient  holding  ground,  beaten  about  by  the 
winds  and  waves,  entangling  their  hawsers,  running  foul  of  each 
other,  and  filled  to  overflowing  with  discouraged  and  sea-sick  men, 
and  the  expedition  seemed  to  be  predestined  to  failure,  by  force  of  the 
elements,  without  the  opportunity  to  fire  a  gun.  In  the  midst  of 
all  this  disastrous  confusion,  the  calm  features  and  striking  figure 
of  BDENSIDE  appeared  cons'picuous,  meeting  every  emergency,  pro 
viding  against  every  calamity,  confident,  imparting  to  his  men  his 
own  indomitable  cheerfulness,  and  inspiring  them  with  his  own  un 
failing  hopefulness.  The  gallant  and  able  defenders  of  the  position 
flattered  themselves  with  the  easy  repulse  of  any  assault  that  could 
be  made  against  it,  by  land  or  by  water,  even  unaided  by  the  ele 
ments,  which  seemed  to  have  conspired  in  their  favor.  They  were 
strongly  fortified,  naturally,  and  by  artificial  works,  skillfully  con 
structed,  and  of  great  strength. 

A  not  over-friendly  pen  thus  describes  the  situation : 

When  a  generation  shall  arrive  that  lias  time  to  read  the  romance  of  the 
four  years  wo  call  the  rebellion,  none  of  its  episodes  will  stand  out  more  pic 
turesquely  than  BURNSIDE'S  audacious  assault  upon  the  rebel  seaboard  at  its 
most  defensible  point.  New  Berne  was  the  knot  of  a  ganglia  of  railway  sys 
tems.  An  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  could  have  been  concentrated 
on  its  circumvallating  land  and  water  lines  long  before  BURNSIDE  felt  justi 
fied  in  attacking.  The  rebels  were  content  with  confronting  the  expedition 
with  equal  or  but  slightly  superior  numbers,  and  though  they  had  much  in 
their  favor,  the  admirable  courage  and  intrepid  combinations  of  the  Union 
commanders  wrested  lines  and  defenses  from  well-organized  defenders  that 
in  any  other  war  or  at  any  other  time  would  have  given  the  victors  an  imper 
ishable  fame.  Landing  his  little  army  below  New  Berne,  on  the  Neuse  River, 
BUKNSIDE  deployed  his  lines  with  a  simple  faith  in  the  Army  regulations  that 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ANTHONY,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  13 

would  have  given  joy  to  such  a  martinet  as  Von  Moltke  or  Frederick.  The 
rebels  were  admirably  protected  and  had  not  anticipated  serious  peril  to  dis 
turb  the  serenity  of  their  confidence.  Great  fields  of  yellow  furze,  with  a 
thin  growth  of  pines,  separated  their  works  from  the  river.  These  works,  be 
ginning  with  an  enormous  railway  embankment  that  reached  the  dimension 
of  bastions  at  certain  points,  were  calculated  to  hold  an  army  in  check  until 
field-guns  and  regular  approaches  should  demolish  them.  BURNSIDE,  though 
timid  in  peace  and  diffident  in  war,  was  never  cautious  in  battle.  He  be 
lieved  that  armies  nearly  equal  in  numbers  could  find  no  better  business  than 
fighting  a  situation  out  on  the  first  opportunity.  Heckmann,  the  dashing  com 
mander  of  the  Ninth  New  Jersey  Infantry,  took  the  lead,  and  the  regiment 
tore  across  the  field  on  a  run.  They  found  the  men  behind  the  works  as  full 
of  ardor  as  themselves.  The  Man  of  the  Jerseymeu,  however,  had  caught  the 
Connecticut  troops  and  New  Yorkers,  and  the  line,  though  mowed  down  and 
almost  annihilated,  reached  the  railway,  surmounted,  crossed  the  ditch  on  the 
side,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  astonished  and  confident  rebels  were  prisoners. 
This  is  not  the  place,  however,  to  relate  this  admirably  complete  military  di- 


This  was  the  earliest  important  Union  success  in  the  East.  The 
grumblers,  a  class  always  numerous,  and  noisy  in  proportion  to 
their  ignorance  of  the  purposes  or  even  of  the  destination  of  the  ex 
pedition,  had  been  loud  in  their  predictions  of  its  failure,  in  which 
they  were  strengthened  by  vague  reports  of  disaster  and  shipwreck. 
When  the  news  of  victory  \vas  flashed  across  the  wires,  one  exultant 
shout  rose  throughout  the  North,  and  the  name  of  BURNSIDE  was 
in  every  mouth. 

General  BURNSIDE  then  joined  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  where 
he  organized  the  Ninth  Corps,  which  rendered  so  important  serv 
ices,  and  won  for  itself  and  its  commander  so  high  renown.  On 
the  14th  of  September,  1862,  General  BURNSIDE  achieved  the  vic 
tory  of  South  Mountain.  At  the  battle  of  Antietam,  he  com 
manded  the  left  wing  of  the  army.  Returning  to  the  army  of  the 
Potomac,  he  resumed  command  of  his  favorite  Ninth  Corps.  Here 
he  was  offered  the  command  of  the  Army.  He  declined  it,  with 
unaffected  diffidence,  as  he  had  twice  before;  but  it  was  pressed 
upon  him  by  positive  orders,  and  he  could  not,  longer,  without  in 
subordination,  refuse  it.  The  battle  of  Fredericksburgh  followed. 


14  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

I  do  not  propose  to  enter  upon  any  discussion  of  that  conflict,  so 
disastrous  to  the  Union  arms.  I  wish  to  arouse  no  animosities,  by 
bringing  up  disputed  points;  but  I  should  not  render  justice  to 
the  occasion,  did  I  not  say  that,  in  the  judgment  of  men  infinitely 
better  instructed  than  I  in  military  affairs,  had  the  general  been 
seconded  by  the  loyal  and  cordial  co-operation  of  all  his  chief  sub 
ordinates,  and  had  he  received  promised  appliances,  victory  would 
have  perched  on  the  Union  banners.  Such,  I  have  no  doubt,  was 
his  own  opinion,  although  I  never  heard  him  declare  it. 

As  magnanimous  in  disaster  as  he  was  modest  in  success,  he  as 
sumed  the  whole  responsibility  of  the  defeat,  and  made  no  com 
plaint.  He  simply  demanded  the  removal  of  certain  officers,  as 
the  condition  on  which  alone  he  could  efficiently  and  satisfactorily 
remain  at  the  head  of  the  Army.  This  condition  not  complied 
with,  he  resigned,  and  turned  over  the  command  to  General  Hooker. 
When  urged  to  make  public  his  grievances,  he  replied  that  it  would 
embarrass  General  Hooker,  whose  success  he  sincerely  desired,  and, 
with  his  hopeful  disposition,  believed  in.  Time  and  history,  he 
said,  would  vindicate  him,  and  if  they  failed  to  do  so,  it  was  better 
that  he  should  remain  under  a  cloud  of  undeserved  reproach  than 
that  a  word  should  be  added  to  the  dissensions,  already  too  preva 
lent,  in  the  Army.  An  appeal  to  the  popular  feeling,  in  a  matter 
of  this  kind,  was  utterly  abhorrent  to  his  ideas  of  military  discipline. 
In  the  order  transferring  his  command,  he  said,  after  praising  the 
courage,  patience,  and  endurance  of  the  men,  "Continue  to  exercise 
these  virtues,  be  true  in  your  devotion  to  your  country,  and  to  the 
principles  you  have  sworn  to  maintain,  give  to  the  brave  and  skill 
ful  general  who  has  so  long  been  identified  with  your  organization, 
and  who  is  now  to  command  you,  your  full  and  cordial  support  and 
co-operation,  and  you  will  deserve  success." 

The  President  refused  to  accept  General  BURNSIDE'S  resignation 
of  his  commission,  and  appointed  him  to  the  command  of  the 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ANTHONY,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  15 

Department  of  the  Ohio,  where  he  rendered  eminent  and  conspicu 
ous  service,  clearing  the  country  of  guerrillas,  and  affording  pro 
tection  to  the  loyal  population.  Attacked  by  Longstreet,  "with 
vastly  superior  forces,  he  retired,  after  repulsing  the  enemy,  which 
outnumbered  him  nearly  three  to  one,  at  Campbell's  Station,  to 
Knoxville,  which  he  occupied  and  fortified,  and  where  he  success 
fully  resisted  the  siege  which  that  able  general  laid  to  it.  A  ter 
rific  assault  was  made  upon  his  fortifications,  and  was  repulsed 
with  equal  impetuosity;  and  the  enemy  was  driven  back,  with  the 
loss  of  fourteen  hundred  men.  Encouraged  by  dispatches  from 
General  Grant,  urging  the  importance  of  maintaining  the  position 
which  he  occupied,  General  BURNSIDE  held  out,  by  the  fertility  of 
his  resources,  by  his  patience,  persistence,  and  unfailing  hopeful 
ness,  with  all  which  qualities  he  had  the  happy  faculty  of  inspiring 
his  men,  till  Longstreet,  warned  by  the  approaching  relief  of  Sher 
man,  was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege. 

Again  assigned  to  the  command  of  his  own  Ninth  Corps,  Gen 
eral  BURNSIDE  participated,  actively,  in  the  closing  operations  of  the 
war,  under  General  Grant.  In  front  of  Petersburgh  he  undertook 
the  mine,  about  which  so  much  has  been  said  and  written.  I  have 
not  time  to  go  into  an  account  of  this  work ;  but  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  had  he  been  permitted  to  carry  out  that  enterprise,  on 
his  own  plans,  and  with  troops  of  his  own  selection,  it  would  have 
been  a  success.  The  whole  matter  was  investigated  by  the  Con 
gressional  Committee  on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  which  said  in  its 
report : 

The  cause  of  the  disastrous  result  of  the  assault  of  the  30th  of  July  last  is 
mainly  attributable  to  the  fact  that  the  plaus  and  suggestions  of  the  General 
[BURNSIDE]  who  devoted  his  attention  for  so  long  a  time  to  the  subject,  who 
had  carried  out  to  so  successful  completion  the  project  of  mining  the  enemy's 
works,  and  who  had  so  carefully  selected  and  drilled  his  troops  for  the  pur 
pose  of  securing  whatever  advantages  might  be  attainable  from  the  explosion 
of  the  mine,  should'have  been  so  entirely  disregarded  by  a  general  who  had 
evinced  no  faith  in  the  successful  prosecution  of  that  work,  had  aided  it  by 


16  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

no  countenance  or  open  approval,  and  had  assumed  the  entire  direction  and 
control  only  when  it  was  completed  and  the  time  had  come  for  reaping  any 
advantage  that  might  be  derived  from  it. 

• 

And  General  Grant,  in  his  testimony  before  the  Committee  on 
the  Conduct  of  the  War,  frankly  said  "General  BURNSIDE  wanted 
to  put  his  colored  division  in  front,  and  I  believe  if  he  had  done  so 
it  would  have  been  a  success."  Surely,  if  human  testimony  avails 
anything,  this  is  a  sufficient  vindication  of  General  BURNSIDE. 

At  the  close  of  the  rebellion,  General  BURNSIDE  resigned  his 
commission,  and  retired  to  private  life.  In  1866  he  was  elected 
governor  of  Rhode  Island ;  he  was  twice  re-elected ;  wrhen  he  de 
clined  further  service.  In  1875  he  entered  this  body,  where  his 
honorable  and  useful  course  is  well  known  to  us  all.  On  the  expi 
ration  of  his  term  of  office  he  was  re-elected. 

In  1870,  during  the  Franco-German  war,  General  BURNSIDE 
was  in  Europe.  At  Versailles,  the  headquarters  of  the  invading 
army,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  German  Emperor,  the 
Crown  Prince,  Bismarck,  and  Von  Moltke,  on  all  of  whom  he 
made  a  favorable  impression,  and  especially  on  Bismarck.  Dr. 
Russell  wrote  to  the  London  Times,  "  Bismarck  likes  him  [BURN- 
SIDE],  Indeed  there  are  few  persons  of  any  nation  who  will  not 
be  touched  by  the  cordial  nature  and  uprightness  of  the  man,  by 
his  solid  good  sense  and  kindliness  of  nature,  and  by  his  clearness 
of  perception  unmarred  by  affectation,  selfishness,  or  any  affectation 
of  statesmanship,  which  is  perhaps  the  highest  diplomacy.  Count 
Bismarck  has  a  penchant  for  Americans  of  a  certain  high  stamp. 
He  says  '  I  like  self-made  men.  It  is  the  best  sort  of  manufacture 
in  our  race.' "  In  the  interest  of  peace  General  BURNSIDE  went, 
under  a  flag  of  truce,  twice  to  Paris,  where  he  had  interviews  with 
Jules  Favre,  General  Trochu,  and  other  members  of  the  govern 
ment.  The  visit  was  attended  with  considerable  personal  danger, 
as  there  was  no  communication  permitted  between  the  hostile  lines, 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ANTHONY,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  17 

and  the  General  and  his  party  were  fired  on  at  their  approach,  their 
flag  of  truce  being  misunderstood. 

He  went  in  no  official  capacity,  but  was  the  bearer  of  certain 
suggestions  from  Count  Bismarck  to  Monsieur  Jules  Favre,  in 
relation  to  an  armistice  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  French 
people  to  elect  a  constituent  assembly,  to  replace  the  fallen  empire, 
and  to  enter  into  negotiations  for  peace.  Count  Bismarck  author 
ized  General  BURNSIDE  to  say  that  he  would  grant  an  absolute 
armistice  of  forty-eight  hours  for  holding  an  election,  and  give 
every  facility  for  a  fair  election  as  well  as  for  the  subsequent 
departure  of  the  members  elected  for  the  city  of  Paris  for  the  place 
where  the  constituent  assembly  might  meet.  The  government  of 
Paris  was  not,  however,  disposed  to  permit  the  election  of  a  con 
stituent  assembly,  which  might  deprive  it  of  power,  and  General 
BURNSIDE'S  mission  simply  opened  the  door  for  future  negotia 
tions.  The  General,  after  his  second  visit  to  Paris,  obtained  from 
Count  Bismarck  permission  for  about  one  hundred  Americans  to 
leave  Paris,  many  of  them  without  funds  and  in  a  deplorable  con 
dition. 

The  General  was  impressed  with  the  appearance  of  Paris,  invested 
by  an  immense  army;  isolated  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  except 
when  a  mail  was  received  under  a  flag  of  truce,  or  sent  away  by  a 
balloon;  with  five  hundred  thousand  troops  in  the  city,  and  ten 
thousand  sailors  manning  the  heavy  guns  on  the  outer  forts ;  with 
its  theaters  closed,  its  gas-lights  extinguished,  and  its  markets  des 
titute  of  meat,  poultry,  fish,  and  game.  He  was  not,  at  the  time, 
communicative  respecting  his  visit,  but  he  expressed  his  opinion 
that  Paris  could  not  be  successfully  defended,  and  that  it  could  not 
be  taken  by  assault. 

In  1852,  General  BURNSIDE  married  Mary  Richmond  Bishop, 
a  most  excellent  and  accomplished  woman,  graced  with  every  vir 
tue  that  adorns  her  sex.  After  a  most  happy  union,  she  died  in 
2  B 


18          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  1WRNSIDE. 

1876.  During  the  five  years  that  he  survived  her  he  did  not  cease 
to  lament  her. 

General  BURNSIDE  united  as  many  excellencies  with  as  few  fail 
ings  as  often  meet  in  one  character.  Brave,  manly,  generous,  he 
joined  to  the  rugged  masculine  virtues  and  "  all  that  may  become 
a  man  "  a  softness  and  gentleness  of  disposition  that  became  a  woman. 
Quick  in  his  conception,  rapid  in  his  processes,  he  was  sometimes 
hasty  in  his  judgments ;  but  he  always  held  them  open  to  evidence, 
and  subject  to  argument,  and  with  a  singular  absence  of  the  pride 
of  opinion,  he  changed  them,  frankly,  on  conviction.  He  believed 
in  general  laws,  to  the  test  of  whose  principles  he  brought  particu 
lar  cases.  Incapable  of  guile,  liberal  in  his  estimate  of  men,  he 
was,  occasionally,  too  little  suspicious  of  the  guilefulness  of  others. 
Yet  he  was  no  mean  judge  of  character,  and  no  man  long  deceived 
him;  or  ever  twice.  He  had  an  instinctive  horror  of  injustice,  and 
a  genuine  contempt  for  meanness ;  yet  his  horror  of  the  one  and 
his  contempt  for  the  other  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  modified  by  his 
charitableness;  and  after  strongly  denouncing  a  wrong,  he  would 
interpose  some  palliation  for  the  wrong-doer,  would  find  some  gen 
erous  mitigation  of  the  offense  which  he  could  not  defend  and  could 
not  overlook.  No  man  was  firmer  in  his  friendships  or  more  faith 
ful  to  his  convictions.  Nothing  could  tempt  him  to  an  act  which 
his  conscience  condemned.  No  sophistry,  no  personal  appeal,  could 
move  him  from  his  fixed  idea  of  right. 

General  BURNSIDE  was  a  man  of  profound  religious  beliefs.  He 
held  firmly  to  the  truths  of  religion,  natural  and  revealed,  and  had 
full  confidence  in  a  superintending  Providence,  which,  whether 
working  by  general  laws,  or  by  special  interposition,  he  cared  not 
to  inquire,  ruled  in  the  affairs  of  men.  He  had  a  faith,  almost  su 
perstitious  in  its  force,  that  men  were  rewarded  for  their  good,  and 
were  punished  for  their  evil  deeds,  even  in  this  world  ;  that,  in  the 
long  run,  a  man  did  not  suffer  from  an  honest  conduct,  or  profit 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ANTHONY,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  19 

from  a  dishonest  one.  Often  when,  under  a  sense  of  injustice  toward 
himself,  or  lamenting  it  in  others,  he  has  said  to  me,  "  Well,  there 
is  a  good  Father  above,  who  watches  over  us,  and  who  will  bring 
all  this  out  right  in  the  end  "  ;  and  while  holding,  Avith  the  tenacity 
of  conviction,  to  his  own  deliberate  judgments,  he  was  most  gener 
ous  in  his  estimate  of  others,  never  seeking  or,  save  in  the  plainest 
cases,  accepting  an  unworthy  motive,  when  a  worthy  one  could  be 
found  applicable. 

He  had  also  an  uudoubting  faith  in  elective  institutions,  and  that 
the  people,  however  they  might  be  misled  in  the  beginning,  would 
ultimately  decide,  correctly  and  patriotically,  every  question  on  which 
they  were  called  upon  to  act.  That  sanguine  temperament,  which 
enters  so  largely  into  the  elements  of  success,  made  him  always  con 
fident  of  the  final  triumph  of  the  political  principles  in  which  he 
firmly  believed.  He  had  what  seemed  to  me  an  exaggerated  esti 
mate  of  the  rights  and  just  powers  and  duties  of  our  government 
toward  the  other  American  States ;  and  looked  forward  to  the  su 
premacy  of  our  flag  over  almost  the  entire  continent,  a  consumma 
tion,  however,  which,  as  he  fully  believed  it  would  come  in  God's 
good  time,  he  would  not  hasten  by  act  of  violent  aggression,  al 
though,  as  the  Senate  knows,  he  was  strongly  in  favor  of  asserting 
our  rights  by  declaratory  legislation. 

Need  I  speak,  in  this  presence,  of  General  BURNSIDE'S  hospi 
tality,  so  cordial !  so  elegant !  yet  so  simple  and  so  unostentatious ! 
Who  that  has  enjoyed  it,  who  that  has  seen  his  genial  countenance 
and  commanding  form,  at  the  head  of  his  table,  can  forget  them? 

General  BURNSIDE  was  strongly  attached  to  rural  pleasures  and 
addicted  to  agricultural  pursuits.  His  little  estate  of  fifty-seven 
acres,  near  Bristol,  and  named  "  Edghill  Farm,"  after  his  father 
and  his  paternal  grandmother,  was  a  model  farm,  and,  by  the  ap 
plication  of  science  and  practical  experience,  had  been  brought  to  a 
high  state  of  cultivation ;  and  prouder  than  of  all  his  successes  in 


20          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNS1DE. 

the  field,  and  in  the  forum,  he  seemingly  was  of  his  meadow  that 
cut  three  tons  to  the  acre,  and  of  his  cornfield  that  yielded  sixteen 
hundred  bushels  to  twelve  acres.  His  herd  of  Alderneys,  of  the 
purest  blood,  and  of  the  finest  character,  was  the  admiration  of  the 
neighborhood.  He  was  very  fond  of  his  horses  and  his  cattle 
which — such  is  the  effect  of  steady  kindness  even  upon  the  brute 
creation — knew  his  voice,  and  always  welcomed  his  approaching 
steps.  His  favorite  horse,  the  gift  of  some  unknown  friend,  that 
had  borne  him  on  many  a  hard-fought  field,  lived  to  the  age  of 
nigh  thirty  years,  and,  long  past  service  to  his  owner,  became,  by 
reason  of  age  and  infirmity,  a  burden  to  himself,  till  life  was  noth 
ing  but  a  prolonged  suffering.  Yet  the  General  was  reluctant,  even 
at  the  dictate  of  humanity,  to  have  him  killed.  At  last  he  yielded, 
and  ordered  the  animal  to  be  shot,  but  not  till  he  should  have  de 
parted  for  Washington.  The  time  of  that  departure  never  came. 
The  day  when  the  lifeless  body  of  the  Senator  was  borne  from  the 
farm  that  he  loved  so  well,  the  faithful  beast  was  shot. 

General  BUKNSIDE  delivered  several  speeches  and  addresses  at 
agricultural  meetings.  These  were  replete  with  sound  doctrine, 
practical  suggestions,  and  sturdy  common  sense.  Among  his  pa 
pers  was  an  address  that  he  had  prepared,  to  be  delivered  before 
the  Aquidnic  Agricultural  Society  of  Rhode  Island,  whose  fair  a 
slight  indisposition,  just  before  the  fatal  attack,  had  prevented  him 
from  attending.  In  the  cultivation  and  improvement  of  his  farm 
he  took  the  greatest  delight.  He  loved  to  watch  the  ripening  fruit, 
the  young  trees  putting  forth  their  tender  leaves,  and  extending 
their  growing  branches,  the  yellow  field,  tremulous  with  the  wav 
ing  harvest.  Always,  on  the  adjournment  of  the  Senate,  he  turned, 
with  eager  steps,  to  his  chosen  acres.  They  are  situated  on  a  ridge 
of  land  gently  sloping  to  Mount  Hope  Bay,  an  indentation  of  the 
broader  Narragansett,  and  navigable  to  the  shore  of  the  farm,  com 
manding  a  view,  seldom  equalled,  by  land  and  water,  including 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ANTHONY,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  21 

a  portion  of  the  island  that  gives  its  name  to  the  State,  the  beauti 
ful  rural  town  of  Bristol,  the  white  roofs  of  Fall  River,  whose 
tall  chimneys  continually  darken  the  sky  with  the  smoke  of  toil,  and 
Mount  Hope,  the  ancient  seat  of  King  Philip,  and  the  place  where 
that  renowned  warrior  was  slain.  The  house  is  of  a  quaint  and  pecu 
liar  construction,  built  after  the  General's  own  fancy,  and- from  his 
own  designs,  and,  in  its  architecture  and  appointments,  suggesting 
the  idea  of  a  maritime  structure.  Here  he  dispensed  an  elegant  and 
profuse,  yet  simple  and  inexpensive,  hospitality.  The  highest  per 
sonages  in  the  land  and  the  humblest  soldier  that  ever  fought  by 
his  side  met  the  same  cordial  reception,  the  same  frank  and  unaf 
fected  welcome.  The  great  dining-room,  around  whose  table  many 
who  listen  to  me  have  sat,  is  inclosed  with  broad  piazzas,  having 
curious  and  original  arrangements,  the  fruit  of  the  General's  me 
chanical  tastes,  for  protection  from  the  fervid  heats  of  summer  and 
the  chilling  blasts  of  winter,  and  is  distinguished  by  an  enormous 
fire-place,  over  which  rise  the  huge  antlers  of  a  great  deer  or  caribou. 
Ah !  the  genial  hospitality  of  that  famous  room !  In  my  mind's- 
eye  the  picture  is  before  me!  The  farm  is  a  lovely  spot,  never 
lovelier  than  on  the  sad  day  when  I  saw  it  last,  bathed  in  the  soft 
light  of  early  November,  bending  beneath  the  golden  weight  of 
autumn,  resplendent  with  the  hues  of  the  dying  year. 

General  BUKNSIDE'S  death  was  very  sudden.  The  afternoon 
before  he  was  at  my  house,  in  Providence.  He  had  been  a  little 
ill,  for  a  few  days  previous,  but  with  nothing  that  caused  appre 
hension.  He  left  me  gaily,  promising  to  return  the  next  morning. 
He  insisted  upon  walking  to  the  railroad  station,  half  a  mile  distant, 
saying  that  the  exercise  would  do  him  good.  On  the  following 
morning  I  received  a  telephonic  message  that  he  was  very  ill,  and 
requesting  me  to  come  to  him.  Before  a  carriage  could  be  brought 
to  the  door,  a  second  message  came,  saying  that  he  was  dead.  He 
had  been  alarmingly  sick  scarcely  an  hour.  Of  all  those  who 


22          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNS  IDE. 

loved  him,  only  his  faithful  and  attached  servants  stood  by  his 
dying  bed.  Shall  we  lament  the  manner  of  such  &  death  ?  Is  it 
not  better  than  the  slow  decay,  the  wasted  form,  the  failing  mind 
of  age  ?  To  him  whom  a  life  of  usefulness  and  of  goodness  has 
prepared  for  his  coming,  death,  when  it  comes  unannounced, 
comes  robbed  of  half  his  terrors.  Let  us  find  consolation  for  that 
portion  of  him  which  has  died  in  the  contemplation' of  that  portion 
which  could  not  die,  in  the  memory  of  his  services  to  his  country, 
his  great  achievements,  his  unselfish  generosity,  his  patriotism,  his 
public  and  his  private  virtues. 

General  BURNSIDE  was  of  fine  address,  of  a  commanding  stature, 
a  strikingly  handsome  man.  The  frankness  of  his  expression  and 
the  sweetness  of  his  smile,  at  once,  won  upon  the  observer,  and  pre 
pared  him  for  that  favorable  judgment  which  a  fuller  acquaintance 
never  failed  to  confirm.  His  age  was  fifty-seven.  I  think  that 
no  man  survives  him  whose  form  and  features  are  known  to  a 
greater  number  of  persons.  They  were  calculated  to  attract  atten 
tion,  and  once  seen  were  not  likely  to  be  forgotten.  His  acquaint 
ance  in  the  Army,  where  he  held  such  large  commands,  his  frequent 
journeyings  at  home,  and  his  foreign  travel;  his  entrance  into  Paris 
at  the  time,  and  under  circumstances  that  rendered  him  the  ob 
served  of  all  observers,  made  him  familiar  to  hundreds  of  thou 
sands  who  did  not  have  his  personal  acquaintance. 

Upon  my  personal  relations  with  General  BURNSIDE  I  do  not 
dwell;  I  scarce  venture  to  speak  of  them.  As  you  know,  Sena 
tors,  they  were  of  the  most  intimate  and  tender  character.  During 
our  whole  service  together,  they  were  never  disturbed  by  differences 
or  clouded  by  doubt  or  distrust.  Not  always  agreeing  upon  public 
measures,  we  differed,  on  those  rare  occasions  when  we  did  differ, 
with  mutual  respect  and  confidence.  He  \vas  the  most  lovable 
man  that  I  ever  knew ;  and  I  loved  him,  I  love  him  still,  with  a 
love  which  Avill  find  no  successor  to  him,  in  my  affection.  Not  a 


ADDRESS  OF  MB.  HAMPTON,  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA.          23 

day  has  passed  since  I  last  looked  upon  him,  scarcely  a  waking 
hour,  when  he  has  not  been  in  my  mind.  And  even  if  I  could 
have  forgotten  him,  I  should  have  been  reminded  of  him  by  the 
expressions  of  sympathy  which  have  continually  met  me. 

Ah !  Jonathan  !  my  brother !  lorne 

And  friendless  I  must  looke  to  be ! 
That  harte  whose  woe  thou  oft  hast  borne 

Is  sore  and  strickene  nowe  for  thee ! 
Younge  bridegroome's  love  on  brydal  morne — 

Oh  it  was  lyghte  to  thyne  for  me. 
Thy  tymeless  lotte  I  now  must  playne, 
Even  on  thyne  own  highe  places  slayue. 

Friend,  companion,  brother !  hail  and  farewell !  The  memory 
of  thy  virtues  and  of  thy  services,  and  that  thou  didst  deem  me 
worthy  of  thy  friendship  and  thy  confidence  are  my  chief  consola 
tion,  in  the  irreparable  loss  that  I  have  suffered. 


Address  of  Mr.  HAMPTON,  of  South  Carolina. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  it  was  the  good  fortune  of  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Rhode  Island — the  father  of  the  Senate — who  has  just  spoken 
so  feelingly  of  his  distinguished  colleague,  whose  untimely  death 
we  deplore,  to  have  known  him  long  and  intimately,  and  to  have 
thus  known  him  was  to  love  him.  Bound  to  him,  as  he  was,  by 
the  strong  ties  of  the  closest  friendship  and  the  most  intimate  party 
affiliation,  it  is  natural  that  in  speaking  of  him  his  language  is  that 
of  eulogy,  for  the  words  he  has  uttered  came  warm  and  direct  from 
his  heart.  So,  sir,  do  mine,  though  my  personal  acquaintance  with 
General  BURNSIDE  dated  only  from  my  entrance  as  a  Senator  into 
this  Chamber.  But  my  association  with  him  upon  this  floor,  in  the 
committee-room,  and  in  social  intercourse  soon  impressed  me  with 
his  many  high  and  attractive  qualities,  and  taught  me  not  only  to 
admire  him  but  to  regard  him  as  a  personal  friend.  In  the  dark 


24         LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BUENSIDE. 

days  of  the  civil  war,  when  we  stood  in  opposing  ranks,  I  learned 
to  respect  him  as  a  true,  brave,  and  gallant  soldier — one  who  fol 
lowed  his  convictions  of  right  with  earnest  singleness  of  purpose; 
who  fought  not  from  ambition  or  a  desire  of  glory,  but  from  a  deep 
sense  of  duty,  and  who  in  every  act  of  his  honorable  military  career 
subordinated  all  private  considerations  to  the  public  good.  When 
he  sheathed  his  sword,  which  had  never  been  tarnished  by  dishonor 
nor  stained  by  cruelty,  he  promptly  extended  the  hand  which  had 
so  resolutely  grasped  that  sword  in  war  to  those  who  had  been  his 
enemies.  Magnanimous  as  he  was  brave,  his  heart  was  large  enough 
and  generous  enough  to  recognize,  when  peace  came  to  our  distracted 
country,  every  American  citizen  as  his  fellow-countryman,  and  no 
act  of  his  since  the  war  was  inspired  by  sectional  hate  or  political 
animosity.  War,  with  all  its  attendant,  inevitable  horrors,  could 
not  change  his  gentle  and  noble  nature,  for  he  seemed  to  be  abso 
lutely  free  from  all  the  bitterness  it  might  naturally  have  engen 
dered,  and  his  highest  aim,  his  constant  efforts  were  directed  always 
toward  the  reconciliation,  the  harmony,  and  the  enduring  peace  of 
the  country.  It  was  the  recognition  of  his  patriotic  efforts  in  this 
direction,  together  with  the  charm  of  his  kind  and  genial  manner, 
that  won  for  him  the  respect,  the  esteem,  and  the  affection  of  his 
colleagues  from  the  South,  and  I  feel  assured  that  I  give  utterance 
to  the  universal  feeling  prevailing  among  them  when  I  express  the 
profoundest  sorrow  at  his  death.  It  is  no  disparagement  to  the 
distinguished  gentleman  who  has  succeeded  him,  or  to  any  one  who 
may  hereafter  do  so,  to  assert  that  Ehode  Island,  however  prolific 
she  may  be  of  able  and  patriotic  sons,  will  never  send  to  this  Chamber 
one  who  can  fill  the  place  made  vacant  by  his  death  more  worthily 
than  he  did,  nor  pass  from  among  us  amid  deeper  and  more  general 
sorrow  than  is  felt  at  his  loss.  This  sorrow  is  as  sincere  as  it  is 
general ;  it  is  felt  as  keenly  on  this  side  of  the  Chamber  as  on  the 
other;  as  deeply  by  Southern  men  who  fought  in  the  confederate 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  EDMUNDS,  OF  VERMONT.  25 

ranks  as  by  Northern  who  supported  the  cause  of  the  Union.  It 
seems,  therefore,  not  inappropriate  that  I,  who  during  the  war  stood 
under  the  folds  of  the  starry  cross,  should  pay  a  tribute,  however 
feeble,  to  that  gallant  soldier  who,  amid  all  trials  and  vicissitudes, 
in  disaster  as  in  success,  bravely  upheld  the  flag  of  the  Union. 
"Would  that  it  were  worthier";  but  it  is  at  least  sincere,  for  it 
comes  from  one  who  was  his  enemy  in  war,  and  in  peace  his  political 
opponent.  Other  Senators  will  doubtless  tell  of  his  distinguished 
services  to  his  State  and  to  the  country ;  of  his  high  qualities  and 
his  noble  nature;  of  his  gracious  manner  and  magnetic  presence, 
which  gained  for  him  everywhere,  in  all  the  walks  of  life,  troops 
of  friends.  I,  too,  sir,  would  fain  dwell  on  these  grateful  themes, 
but  others  have  a  higher  right  than  myself  to  do  so.  Mine  is  the 
humbler  but  not  less  grateful  duty  to  pay  a  simple  but  heartfelt 
tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  friend — one  who  could  always  be  trusted, 
and  whose  conduct  was  uniformly  marked  by  dignity,  courtesy,  and 
kindness.  His  life-long  friends,  his  party  associates,  his  comrades 
in  arms,  the  whole  people  of  the  State  that  he  loved  and  served  so 
well,  have  joined  in  bewailing  his  death  and  in  honoring  his  memory. 
They  have  worthily  bedecked  his  tomb  with  wreaths  of  immortelles ; 
I  bring  but  a  simple^pray  of  Southern  cypress  to  lay  it  tenderly  and 
reverently  on  his  grave.  Peace  to  his  ashes ;  for  of  him  it  may  with 
truth  be  said  that  throughout  his  long,  varied,  and  honorable  career, 

He  bore  without  reproach 
The  grand  old  name  of  gentleman. 

V^*/-I^  S 

Address  of  Mr.  EDMUNDS,  of  Vermont. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  To  the  many  brilliant  and  beautiful  tributes 
offered  to  the  memory  of  Senator  BURNSIDE  I  beg  to  add  the 
simple  offering  of  my  appreciation  of  some  of  the  leading  traits  of 
his  character. 


26          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSWE. 

The  career  of  General  BURNSIDE  exemplifies,  I  think,  in  an 
eminent  degree,  the  life  of  a  warrior  who  does  not  admit  craft  or 
indirection  among  his  weapons.  Whether  right  or  wrong,  he  was 
one  of  the  simplest  and  most  direct  of  men.  Calculation  of  inci 
dents  or  consequences  did  not  seem  to  enter  into  the  measure  of  his 
estimation  of  what  it  was  fit  for  him  to  do,  so  far  as  it  regarded  its 
effect  upon  himself  in  going  forward  with  any  enterprise  or  meas 
ure  in  hand.  If  what  was  proposed  appeared  right  according  to 
the  standard  that  commended  itself  to  him,  he  "followed  right 
because  right  is  right,  in  scorn  of  consequence."  Invective  and 
ridicule,  in  such  a  case,  fell  upon  his  head  without,  apparently, 
diminishing  in  the  least  degree  the  real  enthusiasm  with  which  he 
held  fast  to,  and  endeavored  to  advance,  whatever  cause  he  had 
espoused.  I  have  often  thought  when  I  have  seen  him — not  edu 
cated  in  the  law  in  its  technical  and  precise  character,  nor  yet 
largely  informed  in  the  wider  realms  of  municipal  and  public 
jurisprudence — stoutly  maintain  some  proposition  which,  but  for 
the  necessary  conventionalities  of  all  systems  of  government  and 
all  relations  between  nations  would  have  been  proper — and  was 
frequently  in  the  abstract,  how  noble  must  be  the  character  that 
for  the  sake  of  what  he  believes  does  not  hesitate  to  discard  the 
force  of  precedent  and  rebel  against  the  mandates  of  authority. 

Nor  can  we,  I  think,  who  act  our  short  parts  in  the  great  drama 
of  government — a  stage  on  which  there  can  be,  humanly  speaking, 
no  final  drop-scene — fail  to  admit  how  valuable  to  the  continuing 
interests  of  society  are  the  elements  in  legislative  bodies  that  resist 
the  force  of  precedent,  that  have  small  respect  for  what  has  been 
because  it  has  been,  that  are  fettered  by  no  technicalities  and  that 
feel  as  free  as  if  the  world  had  just  begun. 

The  tendency  to  a  blind  obedience  to  forms,  to  precedents,  and  to 
methods  is  thus  counterbalanced,  just  as,  reciprocally,  the  converse 
elements  in  a  legislative  body  restrain  excess  in  the  opposite  direc- 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  MAXEY,  OF  TEXAS.  27 

tion.  The  equation  and  sum  of  perfect  government,  as  we  on  this 
continent  understand  it,  is  thus  made  up.  But  this  is  not  the 
proper  occasion  to  enlarge  upon  these  interesting  topics.  Let  me, 
rather,  as  I  join  his  colleague  and  successor  in  mourning  his  un 
timely  departure,  testify  to  the  charming  qualities  of  his  private 
character.  I  have  known  him  for  more  than  ten  years,  but  not 
intimately  until  he  came  to  take  his  place  in  this  great  conclave  of 
the  representatives  of  States.  I  am  happy  to  remember  that  since 
then  I  have  enjoyed,  frequently,  his  unostentatious  but  warm-hearted 
and  almost  exuberant  hospitality,  and  have  been  often  honored  with 
his  apparently  unreserved  confidence  in  respect  of  many  matters  of 
public  concern  with  which  he  had  to  deal.  In  our  merely  social 
intimacy,  courtesy,  candor,  and  unfailing  kindness  of  heart  were  his 
constant  characteristics.  In  relation  to  his  connection  with  public 
affairs  and  measures,  he  received  praise  without  vanity  or  elation, 
and  criticism  without  annoyance.  Generous  and  gentle,  his  very 
faults  seemed  to  attract  the  sympathy  and  touch  the  sensibility  of 
his  friends.  He  has  left  us  without  warning,  not  as  a  deserter,  but 
in  obedience  to  the  power  that  dominates  both  senators  and  states. 
May  his  future  be  as  peaceful  and  happy  as  his  past  has  been  full 
of  the  storms  of  war  and  the  vicissitudes  and  labors  of  this  our  life. 


Address  of  Mr.  MAXEY,  of  Texas. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT,  I  leave  to  other  and  more  skilled  hands  the 
task  of  tracing  the  distinguished  career  of  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE, 
as  General,  Governor,  and  Senator,  It  is  a  more  pleasing  duty  to 
me  to  trace  his  private  and  social  character  as  I  knew  him. 

No  man  can  attain  and  maintain  eminent  public  positions,  State 
or  national,  in  this  country,  without  merit.  To  assume  that  he 
could  would  be  to  assert  that  the  people  are  ignorant  or  corrupt. 


28          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURN  SIDE. 

They  are  neither.  They  may  be  deceived  for  a  time,  but  sooner  or 
later  they  will  distinguish  the  false  from  the  true.  If  false,  the 
man  goes  down.  If  he  passes  successfully  the  crucial  test  of  criti 
cal  public  opinion,  all  the  combined  powers  of  detraction,  envy, 
hatred,  malice,  and  corruption  cannot  strike  him  down. 

BURNSIDE  underwent,  and  especially  toward  the  close  of  the  late 
war,  the  severest  ordeal  of  criticism — some  fair,  some  foul — and 
came  out  of  the  furnace  as  did  the  three  Hebrews,  "upon  whose 
bodies  the  fire  had  no  power." 

It  has  been  well  said  by  one  who  knew  him  more  intimately 
than  any  other  man  knew  him :  "  When  victory  crowned  his  efforts 
and  congratulations  poured  in  upon  him,  his  reply  was  ever  the 
same,  ( Not  to  me  do  these  laurels  belong,  but  to  others.' " 

When  dire  disaster  befell  him  he  at  once  telegraphed  his  govern 
ment:  "The  fault  was  mine;  the  entire  responsibility  of  failure 
must  rest  on  my  shoulders." 

Such  expressions  are  the  exponents  of  true  manhood.  The  brave 
and  generous  people  of  his  adopted  State  never  faltered  in  their 
faith  in  BURNSIDE,  and  emphasized  it  by  calling  him  by  three 
successive  elections  to  be  governor  soon  after  the  war,  and  subse 
quently,  by  two  successive  elections,  to  represent  her  in  this  chamber. 

General  J.  B.  Fry,  his  classmate,  and  a  distinguished  officer  of 
the  Army,  in  a  note  to  me,  says:  "The  key  to  BURNSIDE'S  char 
acter  was  his  big-heartedness  and  his  unfaltering  honesty  of  pur 
pose."  General  John  Gibbon,  an  able  and  distinguished  officer, 
also  in  the  Army,  says :  "  His  kindness  of  heart  was  proverbial, 
and  I  doubt  if  he  ever  in  his  life  enforced  any  rigid  rule  of  disci 
pline  without  a  feeling  of  regret."  Like  testimony  comes  from  all 
his  old  Army  associates.  My  acquaintance  with  him  began  in  the 
spring  of  1843,  when  he  came  to  West  Point  to  enter  the  Military 
Academy.  I  was  just  turning  into  my  third  class-year,  a  year  his 
senior  in  class,  although  he  was  my  senior  in  age.  He  was  then  a 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  MAXEY,  OF  TEXAS.  29 

well-developed  man,  with  heavy  beard,  wearing  it  in  the  form  he 
retained  through  life.  His  manner  was  frank,  independent,  and 
manly.  Honesty  was  written  in  every  feature.  He  soon  became 
a  leading  man  in  his  class.  In  the  assignment  of  rooms  we  were  a 
few  doors  apart,  on  what  old  West  Point  men  will  pleasantly 
remember  as  Post  No.  8,  north  barracks,  long  since  torn  down.  I 
graduated  in  1846,  and  joined  my  regiment  in  Monterey,  Mexico, 
in  the  fall  of  that  year.  I  met  BURNSIDE  again,  after  his  gradua 
tion,  in  the  fall  or  winter  of  1847,  in  the  city  of  Mexico. 

After  the  Army  returned  to  the  United  States,  I  saw  no  more  of 
him  until  in  this  city,  in  the  winter  of  1852-'53,  and  not  again  until 
we  met  here  to  enter  the  Senate,  March  5,  1875.  We  were  from 
our  entrance  into  the  Senate  to  his  death  together  on  the  Committee 
on  Education  and  Labor,  for  four  years  on  the  Committee  on  Mili 
tary  Affairs,  and  for  a  time  on  the  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and 
Post-Roads.  Our  old  intimacy  was  renewed,  and  on  these  commit 
tees  I  had  good  opportunity  of  contrasting  the  young  man  I  first 
knew  with  the  matured  man  who  had  played  no  inconspicuous  part 
in  the  great  battle  of  life.  He  was  the  same  manly,  whole-souled, 
big-hearted,  honest  man. 

The  Military  Committee,  as  all  know  who  have  served  on  it,  is 
one  of  great  labor,  and  many  intricate  and  delicate  questions  are 
submitted  to  it. 

BUKNSIDE'S  acquaintance  in  the  Army  was  very  extensive.  His 
relations  with  many  of  the  old  officers  were  cordial,  and  yet  I  never 
knew  him  to  swerve  in  the  report  of  a  case  submitted  to  him  a 
hair's  breadth  from  what  he  believed  the  right  of  the  case.  He 
has  frequently  said  to  me :  "  I  am  sorry  I  had  to  make  that  report, 
but  how  could  I  help  it?" 

There  is  the  key,  "How  could  I  help  it?" 

The  French  say  noblesse  oblige.  In  this  country,  thanks  to  free 
government,  we  have  no  hereditary  nobility,  but  we  have  a  nobility 


SO          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.   BURNSIDE. 

far  above  any  that  earthly  title  can  give — the  nobility  God  impresses 
on  an  honest  man,  and  that  nobility  obliged  BURNSIDE  to  do  right, 
as  he  understood  the  right  to  be. 

When  "off  duty"  he  gathered  his  friends  around  him  for  social 
intercourse.  The  most  pleasant  nights  of  the  few  I  could  spare 
from  duty  in  Washington  have  been  under  his  hospitable  roof, 
where  he  delighted  to  gather  his  old-time  friends  without  the 
slightest  regard  to  whether  they  had  worn  the  blue  or  the  gray.  I 
have  been  in  these  gatherings  where  the  only  man  who  had  not 
been  at  West  Point  or  in  Mexico  with  BURNSIDE  would  be  his 
beloved  colleague,  the  senior  Senator  from  Rhode  Island  [Mr. 
Anthony],  who  was  always  on  such  occasions  an  honored  guest, 
contributing  his  full  share  of  valuable  instruction  and  interesting 
anecdote  in  a  kindly,  pleasant  way.  I  think  BURNSIDE  would 
ha"ve  thought  any  party  at  his  house  incomplete  without  Senator 
Anthony.  Devotion  to  his  friends  was  a  leading  trait  in  his 
character.  BURKSIDE  and  I  differed  in  our  political  creeds,  yet  it 
never  made  the  slightest  difference  in  our  personal  relations. 
Among  the  first  of  the  telegrams  I  received  last  winter  on  my 
re-election  was  one  from  him,  and  not  one  did  I  prize  more  highly. 

I  have  taken  pains  to  gather  incidents  of  his  life  illustrative  of 
what  I  have  said  of  his  character.  This  which  I  shall  relate, 
gathered  chiefly  from  the  records  of  the  case,  is  worthy  of  remem 
brance.  Major  Julius  J.  B.  Kingsbury,  deceased,  formerly  of  the 
Army,  was  at  his  death  the  owner  of  valuable  real  estate,  princi 
pally  in  Chicago,  worth  about  one  million  dollars.  His  only 
children  and  heirs  were  Mrs.  Mary  K.  Buckner,  wife  of  General 
S.  B.  Buckner,  a  distinguished  and  gallant  officer  in  the  Confede 
rate  Army,  and  Henry  W.  Kingsbury,  a  promising  young  officer 
in  the  Union  Army,  who  fell  mortally  wounded  September  17, 
1862,  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  the  Eleventh  Connecticut 
Volunteers,  at  Antietam.  On  the  15th  of  May,  1861,  General 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  MA  KEY,  OF  TEXAS.  31 

Buckner  and  wife,  then  living  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  executed  a 
conveyance,  without  the  knowledge  of  Henry  Kingsbury,  to  him 
of  her  interest  in  the  property,  of  the  value*  at  that  time  of  about 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  At  that  time  Henry  was  a  young, 
unmarried  man.  The  conveyance  was  absolute  on  its  face,  and 
without  Henry's  knowledge  was  recorded  in  the  registry  of  deeds 
in  Chicago.  The  first  intimation  in  fact  that  he  had  of  this  deed 
was  given  to  him  by  General  Buckner  in  this  city,  July  7,  1861. 
It  was  accepted  by  Henry  as  a  sacred  trust,  as  is  shown  by  his  r<  ply 
in  the  conversation  referred  to.  Both  knew  and  felt  that  the  clouds 
of  war  were  gathering  thick  and  fast.  They  instinctively  felt  that 
convictions  would  lead  them  to  opposing  sides.  Absolute  confidence 
was  felt,  and  justly  so,  by  each  in  the  other.  Young  Kingsbury 
knew  and  felt  that  life  in  the  midst  of  war  was  very  uncertain.  He 
felt  that  as  an  honorable  man,  clothed  with  a  sacred  trust,  he  should 
make  provision  to  preserve  to  his  sister  her  property  in  case  of  his 
death,  and  to  carry  out  this  purpose  wrote,  on  the  25th  of  March, 
1862,  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Va.,  what  he  intended  to  be  a  will.  In 
that  will  or  paper  BURNSIDE  was  named  one  of  the  executors.  He 
had  the  absolute  confidence  of  Henry  Kingsbury  and  also  of  Gen 
eral  Buckner.  He  had  enjoyed  the  friendship  and  confidence  of 
Henry's  father  in  his  lifetime  and  had  that  of  his  mother.  Henry 
Kingsbury  married  after  the  date  of  the  conversation  referred  to, 
and  a  child  and  heir  was  born  unto  him  after  his  death. 

This  necessitated  the  settlement  of  the  question  of  title  to  the 
Chicago  property.  Was  the  deed  to  be  held  an  absolute  convey 
ance,  or  was  it  a  trust?  In  the  investigation  of  this  intricate  and 
delicate  question  the  paper  designed  to  be  a  will  became  important, 
not  as  a  will,  but  as  a  writing  showing  the  character  in  which  Henry 
held  his  sister's  interest  in  the  property. 

BURNSIDE,  as  executor,  set  to  work  to  find  and  possess  this  will 
or  paper.  On  the  12th  of  June,  1869,  he  found  it  in  possession  of 


32          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

a  Mr.  Hazard  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Hazard  refused  to  deliver  % 
it  up,  and  possession  was  only  obtained  through  a  contested  appli 
cation  before  the  surrogate,  about  May  1,  1870.  Letters  testament 
ary  were  issued  to  BURNSIDE,  and  on  the  9th  of  the  same  month 
the  will  was  admitted  to  probate  in  Virginia,  and  an  authenticated 
copy  was  soon  after  exhibited  to  the  county  court  of  Cook  County, 
in  which  Chicago  is  situated,  and  ordered  to  record. 

The  outcome  of  the  litigation  that  ensued  was,  that  the  deed  from 
Buckner  and  wife  to  Henry  W.  Kingsbury  was  adjudged  to  be  a 
trust,  and  Mrs.  Buckner's  property  was  rightfully  restored  to  her. 

Of  young  Kingsbury  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  says : 

The  late  Henry  W.  Kiugsbury  was,  as  this  case  shows,  not  only  a  trustee 
of  the  property  for  his  sister,  but  was  an  honest  trustee. 

What  a  splendid  monument  to  his  memory !  What  an  inherit 
ance,  infinitely  beyond  riches,  to  leave  to  his  child,  unborn  at  his 
death  ! 

General  Buckner,  in  a  note  to  me  in  respect  to  these  proceedings, 
speaking  of  BURNSIDE  and  his  efforts  to  find,  possess,  and  establish 
the  will,  says : 

His  sole  object  was  to  sec  full  justice  clone  between  all  the  parties  con 
cerned,  without  partiality  or  favor  to  any.  He  preserved  the  esteem,  I  feel 
assured,  of  all  the  parties,  and  certainly  preserved  the  high  regard  and  affec 
tion  in  which  I  constantly  held  him  during  our  long  and  continued  association 
aud  friendship.  His  sole  desire  was  to  discharge  fully  the  trust  reposed  in 
him  by  his  young  friend,  Henry  Kingsbury,  but  the  fact  that  justice  and 
equity  were  on  my  side  does  not  lessen  my  feeling  of  gratitude  for  his  noble 
conduct. 

This  whole  case  illustrates  the  scrupulous  integrity  of  the  man. 

General  Heth,  BURNSIDE'S  classmate,  roommate,  and  life-long 
friend,  relates  the  following,  well  worthy  of  preservation,  as  illus 
trative  of  BURNSIDE'S  sense  of  honor.  The  extract  is  from  the 
paper  read  to  his  class  October  27,  1881 : 

During  the  latter  part  of  President  Pierce's  administration,  Congress,  de 
siring  to  encourage  and  stimulate  the  invention  and  perfectiou  of  breech- 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  MAXET,  OF  TEXAS.  33 

loading  amis  for  military  purposes,  appropriated  to  this  end  $100,000.  Stimu 
lated  by  this  prize,  many  breech-loading  guns  were  patented.  Our  classmate 
invented  one.  When  Mr.  Buchanan's  administration  came  into  power,  the 
Secretary  of  War  decided  to  convene  a  board  of  officers  representing  all  arms 
of  the  service,  and  informed  the  competitors  that  the  decision  of  this  board 
would  be  final.  The  board  met,  consisting  of,  I  believe,  thirteen  officers,  and 
after  a  very  thorough  and  careful  examination,  unanimously  awarded  tlie 
prize  to  our  classmate.  About  a  month  after  the  adjournment  of  the  board  I 
visited  Washington  and  found  BURNSIDE  there. 

I  asked  him  how  he  was  getting  on.  He  replied,  "Badly;  there  is  some 
thing  wrong;  but  I  will  know  all  to-night."  We  were  occupying  the  same 
room.  After  midnight  he  came  in,  awoke  me,  and  said :  "  Heth,  I  am  a  ruined 
man.  I  met  a  man  to-night  by  appointment,  and  he  informed  me  if  I  would 
pay  $5,000  I  could  get  the  award  ;  otherwise  not.  I  at  once  indignantly  re 
fused."  And,  after  a  moment,  he  added,  "there  is  but  one  thing  I  regret, 
and  that  is  that  I  did  not  fell  him  to  the  ground."  Assigning  the  patent  of 
his  gun  to  his  creditors,  all  that  he  then  possessed  in  the  world,  he  sold  his 
uniform  coat  and  epaulettes,  went  to  Illinois,  and  obtained  employment  under 
his  friend  McClellan. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  Heth,  like  many  Southern  men,  and 
especially  those  who,  like  himself,  had  been  officers  of  the  Army 
up  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  was  left  without  employment, 
with  a  family  to  support,  and  bare  of  means.  Finding  himself  in 
this  condition,  he  relates  the  following  of  General  BURNSIDE  :  . 

After  the  war  ended  he  at  once  wrote  me  a  kind  and  loving  letter,  request 
ing  me  to  meet  him  in  this  city.  I  came  here,  went  to  his  hotel,  sent  up  my 
card,  and  in  reply  was  requested  to  wait  a  few  minutes;  on  reaching  his  room 
I  found  him  alone;  he  at  once  bolted  the  door.  A  few  mouths  before  we  had 
been  locked  in  a  struggle  for  life  or  death,  upon  many  bloody  battle-fields. 

For  thirty  minutes  not  a  word  \vas  spoken.  Your  imaginations  may,  pos 
sibly,  picture  the  scene.  He  was  first  to  break  the  silence.  He  said,  "Heth, 
old  fellow,  what  are  your  plans?"  I  answered  I  had  formed  none.  He  re 
plied,  "I  have  formed  them  for  you.  Your  father,  during  his  life,  was  a  large 
owner  and  worker  of  coal  property  near  Richmond ;  return  to  Virginia  and 
find  some  good  coal-lauds,  and  let  us  work  them  jointly;  when  found  come 
and  see  me." 

The  coal  lands  were  found,  and  I  again  met  him  in  New  York. 

He  said,  "We  will  work  these  lauds  as  equal  partners,  on  one  condition, 
which  I  will  presently  state.  I  am  now  Governor  of  Rhode  Island ;  that 
takes  but  little  of  my  time ;  I  am  also  president  of  the  "  Providence  Locomo 
tive  Works  "  ;  that  duty  takes  up  some  time,  but  every  spare  moment  is  oc 
cupied  iu  superintending  the  building  of  a  railroad  in  Illinois  ;  you  must  take 
entire  charge  of  this  work  in  Virginia,  and  all  that  I  promise  to  do  is  to  honor 
3B 


34          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E,  BURNSIDE. 

your  drafts  to  any  amount  you  may  desire  to  draw  for."  During  his  senato 
rial  career  I  was  frequently  in  Washington,  and  his  hospitable  house  was  ever 
my  home.  The  most  pleasant  sounds  that  reached  my  ears  during  these  so 
journs  were  the  encomiums  and  praises  heaped  upon  him  by  his  political  op 
ponents. 

Mr.  President,  while  others  have  placed  before  the  American  peo 
ple  the  public  career,  civil  and  military,  of  AMBEOSE  E.  BURNSIDE, 
I  have  followed  the  course  dictated  by  a  friendship  running  through 
thirty-eight  years.  He  was  manly  and  brave,  big-hearted,  gentle, 
and  true.  He  was  noble,  because  God  made  him  so.  That  his 
people  knew  him  and  loved  him  was  proved  at  his  burial,  where 
Rhode  Island  stood  mourning  at  h'is  grave. 


Address  of  Mr.  HARRISON,  of  Indiana. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  Senator  BURNSIDE  was  a  native  of  Indiana, 
from  which  State  he  entered  the  Military  Academy  in  the  year 
1842.  Since  that  time  he  has  never  resided  in  our  State,  but  his 
affectionate  interest  in  the  place  of  his  birth,  and  in  his  relatives 
who  continued  to  reside  there,  was  always  manifest.  In  asking 
a  little  time  to-day,  in  which  to  present  an  unpretentious  but  very 
sincere  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Senator  BURNSIDE,  I  am  not  re 
sponding  merely  to  a  formal  duty  which  might  seem  to  be  imposed 
upon  me  as  a  representative  of  the  State  in  which  he  was  born, 
but  also  to  the  promptings  of  a  friendship  which,  though  brief,  had 
in  it  the  element  of  endurance,  for  it  was  founded  on  a  very  high 
respect  for  his  character. 

I  shall  always  count  it  a  pleasant  incident  of  my  introduction  to 
the  Senate  that  I  was  so  placed  as  to  be  much  in  his  company  dur 
ing  the  last  session  of  his  service  here.  His  greeting  each  morning 
was  like  a  benediction — so  much  of  grace  and  kindness  was  there 
in  it.  In  the  light  of  a  short  intimate  acquaintance  I  find  no  dif 
ficulty  in  understanding  the  secret  of  that  strong  affection  which 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  HARRISON,  OF  INDIANA.  35 

existed  between  General  BURNSIDE  and  all  of  those  who  were 
brought  much  in  contact  with  him,  both  in  military  and  civil  life. 

He  was  a  bold,  frank,  friendly,  generous  man.  There  are  men, 
and  not  a  few,  who  selfishly  absorb  the  lives  and  achievements  of 
others ;  who  deck  themselves  with  laurels  they  have  not  won,  and 
strut  in  pilfered  greatness.  Such  was  not  our  friend.  He  did 
reverence  to  merit  and  to  high  achievement  wherever  he  saw  it. 
He  applauded  the  heroic  acts  of  others  with  no  half-hearted  cheer, 
nor  ever  admitted  to  his  generous  soul  the  base  suggestion  that 
when  others  were  praised  the  world's  thoughts  were  turned  from 
him. 

Speaking  of  the  Ninth  Army  Corps,  which  General  BURNSIDE 
commanded  so  long,  his  biographer  says  :  "  Jealousy,  that  bane  of 
military  life,  was  unknown."  I  can  accept  this  record  with  im 
plicit  faith,  for  jealousy  never  found  harbor  or  hiding  place  in  the 
heart  of  the  commanding  general.  There  was  no  room  in  that 
well-lighted  breast  for  this  black  angel.  As  a  subordinate,  he 
never  failed  to  yield  a  quick  and  loyal  obedience  to  his  superior ; 
nor  ever  sought  to  justify  his  own  judgment  in  the  council  by  a 
hesitating  support  of  the  plan  of  battle  which  his  superior  had 
chosen.  He  was  a  true  soldier-; — one  who  had  not  only  a  muster 
but  a  cause,  into  the  fellowship  of  which  he  received  all  who  made 
that  cause  common.  He  might  join  in  the  high  rivalry  of  those 
who  would  give  most  to  this  sacred  cause,  or  win  most  honor  to 
the  flag ;  but  if  he  might  not  be  first  to  plant  the  flag  on  the  ene 
my's  battlements,  he  would  at  least  be  found  among  those  who 
hailed  with  cheers  both  the  flag  and  the  victor.  He  never  minified 
the  deeds  of  others  to  make  his  own  more  conspicuous.  He  was 
no  egotist,  but  always  rated  himself  below  the  value  at  which 
others  appraised  him.  The  modest  way  in  which  he  often  spoke 
to  me  of  his  deficiencies  as  a  contestant  in  the  debates  of  this  Cham 
ber,  I  well  remember.  These  were  not  the  self-deprecating  utter- 


36          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

ances  of  one  seeking  flattery.  His  sincerity  was  as  conspicuous  as 
his  modesty.  Nor  was  his  noble  soul  hurt  or  embittered  by  the 
confession  that  others  surpassed  him.  And  here,  I  think,  Mr. 
President,  we  have  the  secret  of  that  enduring  summer  which 
warmed  the  heart  and  lighted  the  face  of  our  beloved  friend. 

He  was  a  man  who  kept  the  shield-  of  his  personal  honor  bright 
and  unspotted.  Dishonesty,  meanness,  subterfuge,  deception, 
roused  his  nature  into  flame,  and  always  received  his  unstinted 
denunciation.  He  was  not  content  to  disapprove  of  wrong ;  lie 
assailed  it.  All  who  knew  him  have  witnessed  how  his  soul  kin 
dled  and  his  words  grew  hot  at  any  recital  of  oppression  or  in 
justice. 

He  was  a  man  of  great  purity  ajid  delicacy  of  feeling.  Coarse 
ness  and  vulgarity  seemed  peculiarly  offensive  to  him.  He  was 
always  a  refined  and  courtly  gentleman,  full  of  sweet  sympathies 
and  kindly  deeds. 

At  the  wide  fireside  of  BURNSIDE'S  heart  many  guests  have  re 
ceived  warmth  and  light ;  and  coming  again,  after  years  of  sepa 
ration,  have  found  that  no  old  friend  was  ever  crowded  out  of  that 
hospitable  soul. 

Humble  men  and  common  interests  had  his  sympathies.  Several 
times,  as  he  opened  his  mail  at  his  desk,  he  has  turned  to  read 
aloud  to  me  the  letters  of  the  farmer  who  had  in  charge  the  little 
farm  at  Bristol.  The  news  of  the  herd  and  the  dairy,  couched  in 
homely  phrase,  seemed  greatly  to  please  him,  and  the  kindly  words 
he  spoke  of  those  who  had  these  small  interests  in  charge  opened 
to  me  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  a  happy  home. 

The  duty  of  bringing  to  our  memory  to-day  the  striking  inci 
dents  in  the  honorable  life  of  Senator  BURNSIDE  belongs  to  the 
Senators  from  Rhode  Island,  and  I  would  not  intrude  upon  it.  I 
have  alluded  to  some  of  those  traits  of  the  deceased  which  were  so 
conspicuous  as  to  be  easily  marked  by  every  one  who  knew  him. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HARRISON,  OF  INDIANA.  37 

Beneath  these  outeroppings  of  a  great  heart  and  life  there  were 
doubtless  beds  of  gold  which  time  and  intimacy  only  could  reveal. 
The  senior  Senator  of  this  body,  the  colleague  and  close  friend 
of  the  deceased,  has  done  tenderly  and  eloquently  this  last  office  of 
an  affection  which  even  the  youngest  of  us  had  time  to  notice  and 
admire. 

But  I  will  be  excused,  I  am  sure,  if  I  allude  to  a  few  incidents 
in  the  life  of  General  BURNSIDE  which  seem  to  me  to  illustrate  the 
observations  of  his  character  made  during  the  few  months  of  our 
close  acquaintance  here. 

When  the  civil  war  broke  out  he  had  already  achieved  honor 
able  promotion  in  the  service  of  one  of  the  great  railroad  corpora 
tions  of  the  West.  Before  him  the  avenues  of  wealth  and  hon 
orable  distinction  in  civil  life  opened  alluringly.  But  when  the 
call  of  his  country  came  the  enticements  of  wealth  and  ease  did  not 
for  a  moment  enthrall  his  patriotic  spirit.  Suddenly  inquired  of 
by  wire  when  he  could  take  command  of  the  First  Rhode  Island 
Regiment,  his  answer  was,  "  At  once."  And  from  that  April  day 
until  peace  came  again  to  a  restored  country  he  gave  his  time,  his 
heart,  his  life  to  the  nation's  service  with  an  unselfish  patriotism 
that  was  never  excelled.  He  had  no  days  of  sulking,  but  was 
always  ready  for  any  honorable  service  to  which  a  soldier  might 
l)e  called.  We  may  truthfully  say  of  him  what,  in  orders  to  his 
corps  after  Autietam,  he  said  of  the  commander  of  its  third  division 
(General  Rodman),  who  fell  in  that  fight :  "  He  has  left  a  bright 
example  of  unselfish  patriotism,  undimmed  by  one  thought  of  self." 

The  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  did  not  come  to  him 
as  the  result  of  ambitious  self-seeking.  He  had  loyally  supported 
those  who  preceded  him  in  this  responsible  trust.  In  addressing 
General  Halleck  after  his  appointment  he  said :  "  Had  I  been 
asked  to  take  it  I  should  have  declined,  but  being  ordered,  I  cheer 
fully  obey."  Most  bitterly  did  this  modest  soldier  feel  the  jealousy 


38          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

which  his  appointment  developed  in  his  army.  This  is  not  the 
place  to  apportion  the  praise  or  blame  of  Fredericksburgh.  But 
against  the  background  of  that  bloody  repulse  some  of  the  noblest 
traits  of  General  BURNSIDE  are  made  conspicuous.  He  did  not 
indulge  in  whimpering  complaints  of  others,  but,  with  a  courage 
higher  than  that  of  battle,  assumed  the  just  responsibility  of  the 
fight  he  had  ordered. 

The  press  of  the  country  severely  criticised  the  overburdened 
President,  and  charged  that  he  had  forced  BURNSIDE  to  fight 
against  his  judgment.  Mr.  Raymond,  the  veteran  editor  of  the 
New  York  Times,  who  was  at  the  headquarters  of  the  army  shortly 
after  the  battle  of  Fredericksbugh,  tells  us  that  the  President  was 
greatly  depressed  by  these  charges,  and  that  BURNSIDE,  hearing  of 
it,  said  :  "  Mr.  President,  I  will  at  once  relieve  you  on  that  score. 
I  will  not  allow  any  one  to  suffer  for  acts  the  entire  responsibility 
of  which  belongs  to  me."  This  purpose  he  nobly  fulfilled  in  his 
report. 

When  he  was  relieved  from  the  command  of  the  army,  he  said 
to  the  President :  "  Neither  you  nor  General  Hooker  will  be  a  hap 
pier  man  than  myself  if  he  shall  gain  a  victory  on  the  Rappahan- 
iiock " ;  and  in  his  report  of  the  movements  of  the  army  while 
under  his  command,  written  long  afterwards,  he  said  :  "  I  am  not 
disposed  to  complain  of  my  lack  of  success  in  the  exercise  of  the 
command,  and  in  view  of  the  glorious  results  which  have  since  at 
tended  the  movements  of  that  gallant  army,  I  am  quite  willing  to 
believe  that  my  removal  was  for  the  best." 

If  unfriendly  criticism  shall  deny  to  him  some  of  the  qualities 
of  the  perfect  military  leader,  only  base  souls  will  refuse  to  do  rev 
erence  to  the  nobility  of  his  character.  The  black  setting  of  disas 
ter  only  makes  these  gems  of  the  spirit  shine  more  lustrously.  But 
we  must  not  forget  that  Fredericksburgh  was  not  BURNSIDE'S  only 
fight.  In  the  campaign  on  the  Carolina  coast,  at  Antietam,  and  in 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HARRISON,  OF  INDIANA.  39 

East  Tennessee  he  gave  high  proof  of  most  conspicuous  ability  as 
a  commander. 

When  we  separated  last  spring  there  was  no  token  of  the  near 
approach  of  death.  He  seemed  to  be  in  the  perfection  of  physical 
health.  Once  afterward  I  saw  him  in  Indiana,  and  as  he  rode  with 
me  that  quiet  summer  evening,  I  little  thought  I  should  see  him 
no  more  in  life.  We  talked  of  the  time  when  we  should  assemble 
here  again.  But,  alas !  when  I  came,  not  my  friend  but  the  em 
blems  of  death  were  beside  me.  His  death  was  sudden,  and  yet 
there  was  not  denied  him  a  brief  time  in  which  to  adjust  the  dra 
peries  of  his  gentle  and  reverent  spirit  ere  he  stepped  into  the  pres 
ence  of  the  Great  King. 

Mr.  President,  in  the  death  of  General  BURNSIDE  we  have  lost 
one  who  never  denied  his  country  or  his  friend ;  one  whose  name 
was  never  tainted  by  the  flavor  of  a  mean  or  corrupt  act;  one  who 
filled  usefully  high  and  exacting  public  trusts ;  one  whose  spirit  was 
never  soured  by  disappointment  or  poisoned  by  envy;  one  who 
could  be  glad  if  upon  the  background  of  his  own  disaster  another 
might  display  a  triumph  for  the  cause  he  loved ;  one  who  was  al 
ways  a  dispenser  of  hope  and  gladness.  Surely  these  are  traits 
which  we  must  not  only  admire  but  covet  for  ourselves.  And  as 
our  thoughts  bring  to  the  resurrection  these  qualities  of  our  friend, 
and  clothe  them  with  a  beauty  to  the  expression  of  which  our  words 
are  inadequate,  may  we  not  hope  that  the  white-winged  throng  will 
find  new  life  in  living  hearts? 

To  the  State  of  his  adoption,  where  his  active  life  was  spent,  I 
bring  to-day  a  sorrowful  greeting  from  the  State  of  his  nativity. 
Indiana  mourns  a  son  whose  high  career  she  followed  with  affection. 


40         LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 


Address  of  Mr.  RANSOM,  of  North  Carolina. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  Whatever  of  pleasure  there  can  be  in  rendering 
homage  to  the  illustrious  dead  I  feel  when  I  unite  in  these  honors 
to  the  memory  of  General  BURNSIDE.     His  great  nature  has  left 
an  impression  with  me  which  I  regret  I  have  no  words  to  express. 
In  many  respects  his  was  an  extraordinary  character.     In  the  mem 
orable  "  Oration  on  the  Mauilian  Law,"  the  immortal  Roman  as 
signs  to  Pompey  the  "  first  place  "  among  his  countrymen  for  his 
gentleness  to  conquered  Asia:    Sed  ne  vestigium  quidem  cuiquam 
pacato  nocuisse  dicatur.     And  the  same  orator,  in  the  beautiful 
"Appeal  for  Marcellus,"  adjudges  Csesar  " very  like  a  God,"  be 
cause  of  his  magnanimity  to  his  prostrate  personal  and  political 
enemies.     The  conqueror  of  the  world  was  greatest  when  he  had 
conquered  his  own  passions,  Hodierno  vero  die  te  ipsum  vicisti.     At 
the  end  of  nineteen  hundred  years  we  realize  in  an  American  citi 
zen  the  combination  of  the  supreme  excellences  which  the  illustrious 
orator  claimed  for  his  two  most  distinguished  countrymen.     On 
the  shield  of  BURNSIDE  are  united  the  moderation  of  Pompey  and 
the  magnanimity  of  Csesar.     On  the  death  of  Pompey  as  on  the 
fall  of  Csesar  Rome  was  divided  in  her  emotions.     One  party  was 
convulsed  with  deep  grief  and  the  opposing  faction  was  elated  with 
maddening  joy.     On  the  death  of  BURNSIDE  all  hearts  are  touched 
with  grief.     The  union  of  sorrow  is  as  broad  as  the  union  of  the 
country — deep,  sincere,  and  just.     The  chord  that  binds  patriots, 
friends,  society,  homes  together  has  received  a  shock,  and  the  sym 
pathy  of  the  good  everywhere  responds  in  sadness  for  the  common 
bereavement. 

General  BURNSIDE  had  not  a  great  intellect ;  but  he  had  what  is 
better,  a  great  heart.  He  was  not  a  genius;  he  was  not  an  orator; 
he  was  not  a  great  general ;  he  was  not  a  great  scholar ;  lie  was  not 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  RANSOM,  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA.  41 

a  great  philosopher ;  but  he  was  more — he  was  a  philanthropist;  he 
was  a  patriot ;  he  was  a  hero ;  he  was  a  good  mail.  His  virtues 
were  his  strength ;  his  was  not  mental  power,  it  was  moral  force ; 
his  was  not  the  lightning  from  heaven,  nor  rays  of  light  from  the 
sun,  but  it  was  the  warmth  of  the  earth  making  all  things  cheerful. 
I  regard  his  example  as  one  on  which  the  eyes  of  the  young  men  of 
the  country  should  be  fixed.  It  is  an  example  for  study.  Let  us 
contemplate  it  for  a  moment.  Without  wealth,  without  illustrious 
descent,  without  the  favor  of  the  great,  without  striking  mental  en 
dowment,  and  without  extraordinary  good  fortune,  he  attained  dis 
tinguished  eminence  both  in  war  and  peace.  He  commanded  the 
armies  of  his  country,  and  he  was  an  American  Senator.  He  was 
loved  and  honored  at  home,  distinguished  in  foreign  lands,  and 
leaves  an  illustrious  name  in  history.  To  what  was  his  success  due  ? 
I  have  often  thought  of  this  question.  In  my  opinion,  and  in  that 
judgment  I  think  his  best  friends  will  unite,  his  distinction  was  due 
to  his  great  moral  qualities,  and  to  them  alone.  His  virtues  made 
him  great.  As  his  integrity,  his  courage,  his  fortitude,  his  indus 
try,  his  devotion,  his  unselfishness,  his  charity  were  great,  so  was 
his  character  great,  so  was  his  life  great.  The  virtues  are  the  forces 
and  powers  in  life.  The  want  of  virtue  with  the  greatest  ability 
made  Bacon,  the  greatest  of  mankind,  the  most  infamous ;  the  pos 
session  of  great  virtues  without  great  ability  made  BURNSIDE,  the 
good  man,  famous.  Napoleon's  genius  could  not  have  retrieved  the 
disaster  to  the  Union  Army  at  Fredericksburg ;  but  the  candor, 
the  chivalry,  the  honor,  the  sacrifice  of  BURNSIDE  in  his  defeat 
shed  a  halo  on  that  bloody  sunset  as  pure  and  as  bright  as  the  De 
cember  snow  that  glittered  on  those  immortal  hills. 

His  colleague,  the  venerated  Senator  from  Rhode  Island,  in  most 
eloquent  and  tender  words  has  embalmed  to-day,  as  in  a  precious 
casket,  in  the  annals  of  the  Senate,  the  services,  the  character,  and 
the  fame  of  General  BURNSIDE.  I  do  not  know  who  was  the  more 


42          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIUE. 

fortunate,  the  living  friend  in  his  subject  or  the  dead  friend  in  his 
eulogist.  The  picture,  'tis  true,  was  not  Alexander  painted  by 
Apelles,  but  it  was  a  "combination  and  a  form  indeed"  of  the 
noblest  virtues  reflected  from  the  mirror  of  the  purest  affections. 
Every  jewel  sparkled  in  its  own  light,  but  every  jewel  was  polished 
and  set  by  a  master  and  loving  hand. 

The  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  justly  representing  the  senti 
ment  of  the  Southern  people,  has  brought  here  and  planted  around 
the  tomb  of  the  brave  New  Englander  not  alone  the  willows  but 
the  evergreen  laurels  of  his  own  beloved  land;  and  with  a  soldier's 
sympathy  he  has  done  more,  he  has  held  up  the  sword  of  his  former 
adversary  in  the  light  of  the  dazzling  sun  for  the  admiration  of  the 
world  and  posterity,  and  it  was  so  bright  that  I  almost  thought  it 
was  his  own  stainless  and  glorious  blade. 

But,  Mr.  President,  there  was  a  tie  between  the  dead  Senator  and 
myself,  springing  from  the  sword  but  better  than  the  sword,  which 
I  should  wrong  him  not  to  mention.  You  know  that  the  Senator 
as  a  general  in  the  Union  Army  came  in  the  early  part  of  the  civil 
war  to  the  shores  of  North  Carolina,  and  there,  with  his  gallant 
comrades,  achieved  the  victories  of  Hatteras,  Roanoke  Island,  and 
New  Berne,  over  the  not  less  gallant  Southern  troops.  These  were 
among  the  first  successes  of  the  Union  arms.  Sir,  I  have  seen 
many  of  the  brave  soldiers  who  met  and  were  captured  by  General 
BURNSIDE  in  these  engagements,  and  it  is  due  to  history  that  I 
should  declare  here  that  there  is  not  one  of  those  gallant  men  who 
has  not  borne  willing  testimony  to  his  courage,  his  kindness,  and  his 
magnanimity.  I  have  never  seen  one  soldier  captured  by  General 
BURNSIDE  as  a  prisoner  of  war  who  did  not  speak  of  him  with 
friendly,  if  not  brotherly,  affection.  But  this  is  not  all.  I  recog 
nized  here  in  this  Chamber  a  sentiment  of  General  BURNSIDE  than 
which  history  with  all  its  examples  of  splendor  furnishes  nothing 
grander  or  brighter.  I  speak  not  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  his 


ADDRESS  OF  MB.  RANSOM,  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA.  43 

duty  to  his  party.  On  that  ground  I  shall  not  tread.  But  in  all 
else,  in  all  my  association  with  him  on  this  floor,  he  never  failed  on 
any  occasion  to  render  to  North  Carolina  and  her  people  any  and 
every  service  in  his  power.  That  State  seemed  endeared  and  sacred 
to  him.  As  he  had  stricken  her  in  war,  so  in  peace  he  felt  it  his 
duty  to  befriend  her.  I  never  mentioned  her  name  or  her  people  to 
him  but  his  heart  opened  as  to  a  talisman.  His  friendship  for  her 
was  deep,  constant,  and  fervid.  Her  fame,  her  interests,  her  future 
were  objects  of  his  care.  Her  soldiers  especially  were  dear  to  him. 
He  loved  the  living,  he  almost  hallowed  the  dead.  What  an  hon 
orable,  beautiful,  heroic  sentiment  I  The  knightly  thought  of  a 
Christian  soldier.  The  picture  of  Achilles  in  his  tent  as  he  wept 
and  fasted  over  the  dead  body  of  Patroclus,  his  friend,  has  touched 
the  heart  for  over  twenty-seven  hundred  years,  but  here  was  Achilles 
paying  honor  to  the  memory  of  Hector  and  offering  his  ships  to 
Andromache  and  the  children  of  Priam. 

From  every  breast  in  the  broad  limits  of  North  Carolina  I  send 
this  day  to  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  a  message  of  sympathy  and 
affection.  At  the  grave  of  BURNSIDE  North  Carolina  stands  by  her 
sister  Rhode  Island  with  clasped  hands  and  mingles  her  tears  in  the 
urn  of  the  patriot  and  soldier  who  struck  her  the  hardest  blows  in 
battle,  but  who  opened  to  her  the  warmest  heart  in  peace.  From 
no  point  in  the  great  Republic  will  a  deeper  song  of  sorrow  ascend 
to  the  worth  and  memory  of  General  BURNSIDE  than  the  wail  which 
comes  from  the  storm-rent  bosom  of  Hatteras.  On  those  wasted 
shores  and  those  fierce  waters,  in  the  solitudes  by  the  sea,  are  still 
heard  the  echoes  of  his  cannon,  the  beat  of  his  drums,  the  neigh  of 
his  steeds,  but  above  the  troubled  waves  the  voice  is  heard,  the  form 
is  seen,  of  a  patriot,  a  countryman,  a  friend.  Dark  and  fierce  and 
terrible  as  those  waters  are  when  the  tempest  rages,  thank  God, 
when  the  storm  has  passed  they  reflect  nothing  but  the  peace  of  the 
sun  and  the  heavens. 


44         LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 


Address  of  Mr.   HAWLEY,  of  Connecticut. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  Little  remains  to  be  said  by  me  concerning  our 
beloved  friend  beyond  expressing  my  grateful  and  hearty  concur 
rence  in  what  has  already  been  set  forth. 

He  had  long  under  his  command  in  the  Ninth  Corps  twenty-six 
regiments  and  eight  batteries  from  New  England,  including  five 
regiments  from  my  own  State.  When  his  noble  form  came  in 
sight  of  the  survivors  upon  festival  days  and  at  their  frequent  re 
unions,  the  unmeasured  roar  of  their  greetings  was  good  to  hear. 
I  wish  I  could  make  clear  to  the  Senate  the  love  they  bore  him 
and  the  sorrow  they  felt  when  he  so  suddenly  departed.  He  de 
served  it.  He  abounded  in  the  qualities  that  win  such  affection. 

On  Monday,  the  15th  of  April,  1861,  sitting  in  his  office  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  he  received  a  telegram  from  Governor  Sprague 
asking  how  soon  he  could  come  to  Rhode  Island  and  take  command 
of  the  First  Regiment.  He  answered  simply:  uAt  once";  and 
reported  the  next  morning  in  Providence. 

His  patriotism  was  unbounded.  His  courage  was  perfect  and 
his  temper  high.  He  was  generous  to  friend  and  foe.  He  was 
profoundly  sympathetic  in  the  presence  of  distress.  He  was 
prompt,  simple,  and  frank  as  a  child  in  confessing  a  fault  and 
making  amends;  ready  on  the  instant  to  assume  all  blame  to  him 
self  and  distribute  all  honor  to  others.  His  knightly  example  of 
unhesitating  loyalty  and  total  abnegation  of  self  carried  comfort  and 
strength  to  others.  In  high  or  low  command,  or  with  no  com 
mand  at  all,  he  was  the  eager,  obedient  servant  of  the  Republic, 
asking  for  nothing  but  that  he  might  not  be  left  idle. 

After  the  battle  of  Fredericksburgh,  in  December,  1862,  so 
strong  a  hold  had  he  upon  the  public  regard  that  doubt  began 
to  be  expressed  whether  he  had  not  been  led  to  fight  against  his 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  ITAWLEY,  OF  CONNECTICUT.  45 

better  judgment,  and  whether  the  authorities  at  Washington  were 
not  responsible  for  the  buttle  itself,  as  well  as  the  failure.  He 
straightway  wrote  to  General  Halleck,  without  a  shadow  of  criti 
cism  for  any  person  whatever,  setting  forth  his  reasons  for  moving 
earlier  than  was  anticipated  by  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War, 
and  at  a  point  other  than  one  he  had  previously  indicated,  thank 
ing  the  government  for  the  support  and  confidence  he  had  received, 
and  declaring :  "  For  the  failure  in  the  attack  I  am  responsible,  as 
the  extreme  gallantry,  courage,  and  endurance  shown  by  the  Army 
was  never  exceeded,  and  would  have  carried  the  points  had  it  been 
possible."  The  letter  was  published  throughout  the  country, 
whereupon  the  defeated  general  won  a  place  in  the  affections  of  the 
people  which  triumphant  victors  might  have  envied,  and  from 
which  none  of  the  contingencies  of  war  or  peace  could  ever  have 
dislodged  him. 

He  was  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman,  truth-teller,  and  truth-lover. 
"  Whatever  record  leaps  to  life,  he  never  shall  be  shamed." 

No  more  in  soldier-fashion  will  he  greet 
With  lifted  hand  the  gazer  in  the  street. 

He  sleeps  his  last  sleep,  or  rather  he  is  awake  forever, 
say,  with  Abou  Ben  Adhem,  to  the  angel  cheerily : 

I  pray  thee,  then, 
Write  me  as  one  who  loves  his  fellow-men. 

And  we  believe  that  he  has  been  shown  by  the  angel  that  his  name 
is  among  those  whom  love  of  God  has  blessed.  We  lament  him ; 
we  sorely  lament  him ;  but  let  us  say  as  Cicero  said  of  his  friend 
Scipio  :  "  No  evil  has  happened  to  him ;  if  to  any,  it  has  happened 
to  us  who  have  lost  him.  But  to  be  too  greatly  grieved  by  our 
own  loss  is  the  part  of  one  loving,  not  his  friend,  but  himself." 


46          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BDRNSIDE. 


Address  of  Mr.  JONES,  of  Florida. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  It  is  needless  for  me  to  say  that  occasions  like 
this  are  too  often  regarded  as  requiring  little  more  than  the  dry, 
formal,  and,  if  I  may  say  it,  heartless  expressions  of  commendation 
of  those  who  speak  more  from  a  sense  of  public  duty  than  a  love 
of  the  deceased.  Every  man  who  dies  in  his  place  in  the  Senate 
must  have  something  said  about  him,  and  as  no  one  will  ever  be 
found  to  express  anything  but  praise  on  such  occasions,  it  has  been 
accepted  as  a  truism  that  no  man  ever  died  in  the  Senate  who  was 
not  entitled  to  his  share  of  senatorial  commentation.  How  often 
has  it  been  noted  here  that  the  political  adversary  who,  in  the  life 
time  of  his  antagonist,  could  find  in  him  nothing  to  admire  or 
praise,  after  death  had  ended  his  career  was  found  disclosing  to  the 
country  in  luminous  sentences  the  varied  virtues  and  talents  which 
distinguished  the  deceased.  I  rejoice,  Mr.  President,  if  such  a 
word  is  at  all  permissible  upon  such  an  occasion,  that  I  am  able  to 
say  over  the  ashes  of  our  departed  friend,  what  it  was  often  my 
pleasure  to  say  when  he  was  living ;  that  in  all  the  best  qualities 
of  manhood,  in  heart  and  generous  feeling,  in  unsullied  integrity, 
in  gentleness  and  courage,  in  conscientious  devotion  to  duty,  in  true 
patriotism,  in  fidelity  to  friendship,  in  contempt  of  everything  low 
and  ignoble,  in  appreciation  of  all  that  was  high  and  honorable,  in 
charity  and  love  for  his  species,  in  all  the  boundless  resources  of  a 
great,  manly  heart,  Senator  BURNSIDE  had  no  superior  in  this 
Chamber.  In  order  to  do  justice  to  this  distinguished  man  it  is 
only  necessary  to  portray  his  true  character.  He  made  no  pre 
tensions  as  a  master  of  oratory.  He  aimed  at  no  'distinction  for 
sharpness  in  debate.  He  never,  within  my  recollection,  attempted 
any  display  on  this  floor.  The  plainness  and  pointedness  of  his 
speech  was  in  keeping  with  the  openness  and  candor  of  his  heart, 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  JONES,  OF  FLORIDA.  47 

the  honesty  of  whose  purposes  required  no  richness  of  vocabulary 
to  relieve  it  from  the  suspicion  of  insincerity. 

Kind  nature,  in  the  bestowal  of  her  gifts,  both  to  animals  and 
men,  has  ever  regarded  the  wants  which  their  imperfections  created. 
The  lion  is  not  gifted  with  the  activity  of  the  deer,  but  he  is  armed 
with  a  power  as  well  adapted  to  his  protection  as  the  fleetness  of  the 
other.  The  plain,  open,  unsuspecting  heart  needs  not  the  polished 
phrase  of  oratory  to  give  effect  to  its  convictions.  The  man  whose 
character  is  a  beacon-light  of  truth,  honor,  and  integrity,  will  be  felt 
in  the  simplest  speech,  while  the  artful  and  cunning  deceiver  requires 
all  the  best  power  of  expression  to  enable  him  to  convince  the  world 
of  the  honesty  of  his  purposes  and  the  integrity  of  his  principles. 

Need  I  appeal  to  the  Senate  to  verify  this  assertion  ?  When  our 
departed  friend  rose  in  this  Chamber,  who,  even  among  his  politi 
cal  adversaries,  ever  for  a  moment  questioned  the  truth  and  sincerity 
of  his  statements?  All  felt  that  whatever  might  be  the  weight  of 
his  argument,  it  was  the  emanation  of  a  mind  honestly  impressed 
and  free  from  every  taint  of  deception  or  insincerity.  Well  do  I 
remember  when,  during  the  extra  session,  he  rose  in  his  seat  and 
rebuked  this  side  of  the  Chamber  for  what  he  called  our  want  of 
dignity  in  resorting  to  dilatory  motions ;  and  when  reminded  by  my 
friend  from  Kentucky  that,  on  a  previous  occasion,  he  was  himself 
an  obstructionist  by  retiring  to  the  cloak-room  to  avoid  a  vote, 
without  the  slightest  hesitation  or  effort  at  prevarication  he  admit 
ted  his  delinquency,  and  said  if  God  would  forgive  him  he  would 
never  do  so  again.  Although  he  took  his  place  in  the  Republican 
ranks,  and  was  a  true  party  man,  still  all  could  see  that  he  was  at 
times  too  broad  and  liberal,  too  good  and  kind,  too  great  a  lover  of 
his  country  and  his  fellow-man  to  follow  any  party  beyond  the 
bounds  of  charity,  justice,  and  right.  While  he  was  one  of  those 
who  had  drawn  his  sword  for  his  government  when  force  was  to  be 
met  with  force,  yet  every  one  knew  that  his  countrymen  of  the 


48          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

South,  in  the  days  of  sorrow  and  misfortune,  received  nothing  but 
kindness  and  generosity  at  his  hands.  In  his  intercourse  here  with 
men  of  all  parties  and  from  all  sections  his  conduct  was  always 
that  of  a  kind,  conciliatory  spirit,  ever  considerate  of  the  feelings 
and  honor  of  others,  while  he  was  always  watchful  and  jealous  of 
his  own.  No  man  was  too  humble  or  lowly  to  be  below  his  consid 
eration  and  kindness,  and  no  man  was  so  high  as  to  be  above  his 
contempt  and  scorn  when  his  conduct  merited  his  reproach.  He 
combined  the  tenderness  and  gentleness  of  a  woman  with  the  lofty 
courage,  the  high  bearing,  and  stern  demeanor  of  a  Roman  senator. 
And  while  his  great  heart  would  melt  with  charity  for  the  suffer 
ings  of  his  fellow-man,  when  the  occasion  which  moved  him  had 
passed  away,  he  could  resume  his  place  here  with  immovable  firm 
ness  and  decision,  and  exact  every  formal  right  that  was  due  to  the 
dignity  of  his  position.  In  his  intercourse  with  his  brother  Sena 
tors  no  man  knew  better  than  he  did  where  to  draw  the  line  between 
overstrained  dignity  and  haughtiness  and  vulgar  familiarity,  which 
often  destroys  the  charm  of  social  life.  While  never  forgetting 
that  he  was  a  Senator  and  a  gentleman,  he  made  it  easy  for  all  to 
approach  him  and  converse  with  him,  and  if  the  sternness  of  integ 
rity  repelled  those  only  whose  motives  and  purposes  were  bad,  his 
warm  heart  and  sympathetic  nature  gave  a  sure  passport  to  his 
presence  to  all  who  in  any  way  were  deserving  of  recognition.  I 
have  not  taken  the  pains  to  trace  this  noble  man  through  all  the 
eventful  scenes  and  changes  of  his  life.  The  occasion  would  not 
permit  it.  I  have  heard  he  was  of  lowly  origin,  and,  like  thou 
sands  of  others  in  this  great  land,  owed  his  fame  and  fortune,  not 
to  a  line  of  illustrious  ancestors,  but  to  his  own  honest  exertions 
and  character.  Never  shall  I  forget  the  impression  made  upon  my 
mind  the  day  I  followed  his  remains  to  the  grave.  It  seemed  that 
every  inhabitant,  high  and  low,  of  that  State  he  loved  and  served 
so  well  thronged  the  public  highways  to  pay  homage  to  his  mem- 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  JONES,  OF  FLORIDA.  49 

ory  and  manifest  their  grief.  The  aspect  of  mourning  was  neither 
stately,  cold,  nor  formal.  In  each  face  could  be  seen  the  sure  indi 
cations  of  genuine  sorrow,  and  such  was  the  estimate  in  which  he 
was  held  that  thousands  who  had  never  seen  him  while  living 
lamented  his  departure  as  that  of  a  father  or  bosom  friend.  Great, 
indeed,  must  that  man  be  who,  when  elevated  above  his  fellow-men 
and  known  only  to  them  through  his  public  conduct,  impresses  the 
public  heart  with  nothing  but  sentiments  of  the  warmest  love  and 
devotion.  I  have  known  greater  debaters  and  logicians  than  Sen 
ator  BURNSIDE,  men  who  could  magnetize  senates  by  the  power  of 
speech  and  stir  the  passions  of  the  masses  at  their  pleasure,  but  I 
have  seen  them,  after  the  effect  of  their  eloquence  had  passed  away, 
cold  and  uninspiring,  giving  out  no  moral  light,  and  pointed  to  as 
brilliant  meteors  which  illumine  and  enlighten  from  afar,  but  which 
cannot  be  approached  in  safety  in  consequence  of  the  contagion  of 
their  fiery,  life-consuming  presence.  Not  so  with  him  we  mourn 
to-day.  His  high  moral  bearing  was  always  the  same,  and  whether 
in  the  Senate  Chamber  or  the  walks  of  private  life,  he  was  pointed 
to  as  the  same  uniform  and  lofty  character  whose  beauties  and  good 
ness  were  always  clearer  and  brighter  the  nearer  we  approached 
them,  infusing  warmth,  life,  and  hope  into  all  who  surveyed  them. 
Cut  down  in  the  prime  of  his  manhood  by  the  unheralded  hand  of 
death,  it  is  not  for  us  to  question  the  wisdom  or  goodness  of  the 
Almighty  by  complaining  of  His  decree.  The  shortness  of  the 
time  which  must  necessarily  intervene  between  our  late  brother's 
departure  to  the  realms  of  immortality  and  our  own  will  never  be 
perceived  on  the  records  of  eternity.  In  the  course  of  nature,  stern 
and  inevitable,  we  must  follow  him,  and  should  it  be  the  fate  of  any 
of  us  to  be  called  upon  to  meet  death  without  warning  or  premoni 
tion  as  he  was,  let  us  hope  that  we  will  be  as  well  prepared  to  bear 
the  scrutiny  and  receive  the  judgment  of  an  all- wise  and  all-seeing 
Judge  as  AMBROSE  E.  BTTRNSIDE. 

4B 


50          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 


Address  of  Mr.  HALE,  of  Maine. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  It  would  not  be  fitting  for  me,  in  the  little 
time  which  I  shall  take,  to  attempt  to  speak  of  the  public  life  and 
services  of  General  BUKNSIDE.  I  could  add  nothing  to  Senator 
Anthony's  portrayal. 

But,  since  General  BUENSIDE  came  into  the  Senate,  it  has  been 
my  good  fortune  to  know  him  well  and  to  see  much  of  him,  and  I 
desire  to  say  a  few  words  in  token  of  the  regard  which  I  felt  for 
him  living,  and  the  tender  memory  which  I  bear  for  him  now  that 
he  is  gone. 

That  memory  recalls  him  as  a  man  who,  out  of  years  of  activity 
and  sometimes  of  awful  conflict,  brought  a  nature  of  exceeding 
purity  and  sweetness. 

His  education  was  a  military  one.  In  his  youth  he  took  part  in 
the  war  of  conquest  which  the  Republic  waged  against  Mexico. 
His  active  participation  in  our  last  and  greatest  of  wars  is  a  part  of 
the  history  of  the  country.  He  was  brought  face  to  face  with  suf 
fering  and  pain  and  death,  and  must  have  learned  to  look  upon 
these  as  every-day  incidents.  He  beheld,  as  a  near  spectator,  the 
most  tremendous  European  conflict  of  the  century. 

But  war  never  roughened  nor  hardened  him.  Some  of  us  who 
never  knew  him,  until  the  long  ease  which  peace  brings  after  war 
had  set  in,  found  him  intrepid  and  fearless,  it  is  true,  as  Bunyan's 
Great-heart,  but  magnanimous,  gentle,  and  tender  as  the  blameless 
king  at  the  head  of  the  Round  Table. 

Nor  did  changed  fortune  or  hard  fate  have  power  to  warp  his 
spirit.  In  the  great  war  of  the  rebellion  he  commanded  our  first 
happy  and  successful  expedition,  and  later  his  name  was  associated 
with  an  army  corps  whose  fortunes  he  led,  sometimes  to  the  heights 
of  victory,  sometimes  into  the  sad  valley  of  defeat.  His  command 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ALDRICU,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  51 

of  our  greatest  army  was  not  fortunate,  and  the  fact  that  it  was 
imposed  on  him  with  no  willing  consent  on  his  part,  and  that  events 
compelled  him  to  lay  it  down  after  a  great  disaster,  might  have 
embittered  a  less  generous  nature. 

In  General  BURNSIDE'S  heart  no  room  was  ever  found  for  bit 
terness,  or  jealousy,  or  envy.  "An  unexhausted  kindliness  glowed 
like  daily  sunrise  there." 

Side  by  side  with  this  softer  part  of  character  his  "strength  of 
spirit"  always  asserted  itself,  and  made  him  the  most  manly  and 
fearless  of  men.  Time  and  again  I  have  seen  him  endure  a  test 
more  to  be  dreaded  by  a  sensitive  nature  than  the  facing  of  armed 
men  or  the  fire  of  converging  batteries,  the  standing  alone  and 
maintaining  the  cause  of  an  absent  and  unpopular  friend  when 
clamorous  voices  told  him  too  plainly  how  absolutely  he  was  alone. 

On  such  a  field  General  BURXSIDE  would  not  even  draw  off 
into  the  refuge  of  silence. 

He  was  a  friend  worth  having;  and  it  will  be  long  before  men 
will  cease  to  sigh  or  women  to  weep  because  they  "go  their  ways 
without  him." 

Standing  here  in  the  place  which  he  left  vacant,  I  realize  how 
much  better  we  should  be  if  he  were  still  a  moving,  living  form 
among  us;  how  great  was  our  loss  in  his  removal. 


Address  of  Mr.  ALDRICH,  of  Rhode  Island. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  Other  Senators,  better  qualified  by  long  and 
familiar  association  during  years  of  common  service  here,  or  of  com 
mon  peril  in  the  field,  have  faithfully  told  the  story  of  General 
BURNSIDE'S  life  and  public  services.  I  cannot  hope  to  add  any 
thing  to  their  graceful  words  of  eulogy  and  eloquent  tributes  of 
affection,  and  I  should  not  venture  to  detain  the  Senate  beyond  a 
simple  declaration  of  concurrence  in  their  kindly  expressions  if  the 


52          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

obligations  of  my  position  did  not  require  that  I  should  confirm  the 
testimony  so  feelingly  and  beautifully  given  by  my  colleague  of  the 
estimation  in  which  Senator  BUENSIDE  was  held  by  the  people  of 
my  native  State.  No  man  stood  higher  in  the  regard  of  the  people 
of  Rhode  Island,  and  the  loss  of  none  in  all  her  history  has  been 
so  universally  mourned.  His  sudden  death  touched  our  hearts 
with  sadness  and  sorrow  at  a  time  when  all  were  watching  with 
anxious  solicitude  at  the  bedside  of  our  dying  Chief  Magistrate. 

The  dark  shadows  of  impending  calamity  which  then  filled  every 
household  in  the  land  with  gloom  deepened  the  grief  which  over 
whelmed  our  people  when  the  announcement  was  made  that  their 
neighbor  had  been  stricken  down.  He  had  been  the  trusted  and 
familiar  friend  of  all  classes,  and  all  felt  that  they  had  suffered  in 
his  death  an  irreparable  loss.  There  was  something  phenomenal  in 
the  attachment  of  our  entire  community  to  General  BURNSIDE.  It 
was  the  affection  of  a  people,  proud  of  their  history  and  traditions, 
clinging  with  peculiar  tenacity  to  their  conservative  institutions, 
slow  to  change  or  to  give  their  confidence,  for  a  man  who  came  to 
them  in  mature  years  a  stranger  from  a  distant  State.  To  this  sou 
of  Indiana,  who  left  behind  him  the  unequaled  opportunities  for 
development  and  the  broad  fields  of  usefulness  and  power  of  the 
great  West  and  boldly  stemmed  the  tide  of  emigration  to  enter  in 
New  England  lists  already  crowded  with  competitors,  they  gave 
abundant  evidences  of  their  confidence  and  freely  accorded  their 
highest  political  honors.  No  man  can  say  that  these  distinctions 
were  not  fairly  won  by  honorable  service. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  recall  the  familiar  facts  of  his 
eventful  career.  As  a  brave,  faithful,  and  efficient  soldier,  he  de 
served  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen  for  his  important  services. 
It  may  not  be  possible  for  his  contemporaries  to  assign  to  him  the 
place  he  will  occupy  in  history  as  a  military  commander,  but  we 
can  say  with  confidence  that  no  man  entered  our  great  conflict  with 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  ALDRICH,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  53 

a  nobler  purpose,  or  was  actuated  at  all  times  by  a  more  devoted 
patriotism,  or  had  a  keener  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  the 
duties  he  was  called  upon  to  discharge.  The  brightness  of  his 
military  record  was  never  tarnished  by  exhibitions  of  petty  jealousy, 
or  by  unseemly  strife  for  personal  preferment.  He  had  courage,  a 
resolute,  steadfast  determination  which  was  superior  to  all  obstacles, 
and  an  unwavering  faith  in  the  justice  of  his  cause.  His  familiarity 
with  the  personnel  of  his  command  and  his  painstaking  care  over 
everything  which  would  contribute  to  their  convenience  and  com 
fort,  kept  them  at  all  times  in  sympathy  with  their  commander  and 
his  purposes.  He  never  complained  of  any  injustice  or  neglect,  but 
was  always  ready  to  serve  whenever  and  wherever  he  was  ordered. 
It  has  been  well  said  by  one  who  knew  him  well,  that  he  "was 
never  discouraged  by  disaster  or  soured  by  a  sense  of  injury."  He 
never  sought  to  evade  the  full  measure  of  accountability  for  his 
acts  and  opinions,  and  his  exceptional  magnanimity  often  led  him  to 
assume  the  responsibility  for  failures  and  faults  properly  chargeable 
to  others. 

We  find  his  characteristic  honesty  of  purpose  and  devotion  to 
duty  manifested  in  his  life  at  the  Capital.  He  did  not  look 
upon  his  position  here  as  an  honor  to  be  lightly  worn,  but  as  a 
great  public  trust,  with  grave  responsibilities.  He  was  ambitious 
to  be  a  useful  servant  of  the  people  who  had  honored  him  with  a 
seat  in  the  Senate,  and  was  always  ready  to  respond  to  demands 
made  upon  him  by  his  constituents,  no  matter  how  exacting  they 
might  be.  His  conclusions  as  to  the  line  of  public  duty  to  be  fol 
lowed  were  reached  not  as  the  result  of  profound  study,  but  by 
accepting  the  promptings  of  his  own  generous  and  manly  nature, 
and  these  seemed  to  lead  him  instinctively  to  correct  decisions. 

We  may  not  claim  for  him  great  genius  or  brilliant  achievements 
as  a  soldier  or  statesman.  He  had  neither  the  arrogant  pretensions, 
the  impracticable  theories,  nor  the  infirmities  of  temper  which  are 


54         LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNS1DE. 

sometimes  accepted  as  the  evidence  of  genius,  but  he  had  an  intel 
ligent  comprehension  of  the  important  duties  of  American  citizen 
ship,  and  a  sincere  desire  and  honest  intention  to  advance  the  inter 
ests  and  improve  the  condition  of  his  fellow-countrymen.  No  man 
ever  dared  to  attempt  to  influence  or  control  his  action  by  appeals 
to  purely  selfish  motives.  He  was  always  sanguine  of  the  success 
of  any  cause  which  he  advocated,  as  he  believed  in  the  ultimate 
supremacy  of  moral  forces  and  the  final  triumph  of  right. 

In  emergencies,  and  whenever  uncertain  of  methods  or  results,  he 
confidently  asked  for  Divine  guidance,  with  the  firmest  belief  in  the 
efficacy  of  earnest  prayer.  His  unaffected  simplicity  of  manner, 
his  kindness  of  heart,  and  his  spirit  of  broad,  catholic  charity  for 
the  unfortunate  and  the  suffering  endeared  him  to  all. 

I  should  do  an  injustice  to  the  general's  memory  if  I  should  fail 
to  allude  to  his  attractive  social  qualities.  These  were  best  under 
stood  and  appreciated  by  the  wide  circle  of  friends  who  were  per 
mitted  to  enjoy  the  delightful  companionship  of  his  home,  with 
its  warmth  of  welcome  and  genial  intercourse  and  with  its  bountiful 
and  gracious  hospitality ;  but  a  much  wider  circle  will  remember 
the  cordial  grasp  of  the  hand,  and  the  kind  words  with  which  he 
invariably  greeted  those  with  whom  he  was  brought  in  contact. 

The  hour  dedicated  to  the  memory  and  worth  of  our  dear  friend, 
who  was  so  recently  full  of  vitality  and  hope,  and  now  has  left  the 
scenes  of  his  earthly  pleasures  and  friendships  forever,  is  drawing 
to  a  close,  and  as  we  speak  the  final  words  we  realize  how  powerless 
is  human  agency  to  mitigate  our  sorrow. 

We  may  hereafter  find  much  consolation  in  contemplating  the 
record  made  to-day  of  his  useful  and  honorable  life.  That  his 
good  name  and  example  will  be  cherished  by  those  who  knew  him 
best  is  amply  attested  by  many  instances  of  their  devotion  to  his 
memory.  On  the  day  preceding  his  funeral  half  of  our  population 
crowded  through  the  portals  of  the  City  Hall  in  Providence,  with 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  ALDRICH,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  55 

bowed  heads  and  tearful  eyes,  to  look  for  the  last  time  on  his 
familiar  features.  His  own  loved  and  trusted  veterans,  the  bravest 
and  best  of  Rhode  Island's  sons,  who  tenderly  guarded  his  mortal 
remains  from  the  hour  of  his  death  until  the  earth  closed  over 
them,  have  taken  steps  to  have  his  manly  presence  reproduced  in 
enduring  bronze  to  adorn  the  busy  streets  of  our  principal  city. 
He  was  lovingly  borne,  with  imposing  honors,  to  his  last  resting- 
place  by  the  State  of  his  adoption,  who  now  proudly  claims  his 
fame  and  his  ashes  as  her  own. 

I  move  the  adoption  of  the  pending  resolutions. 

The  PEESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  question  is  on  the  adoption 
of  the  resolutions  presented  by  the  senior  Senator  from  Rhode 
Island  [Mr.  Anthony]. 

The  resolutions  were  agreed  to  unanimously ;  and  (at  two  o'clock 
and  twenty-one  minutes  p.  m.)  the  Senate  adjourned. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


IN  THE  HOUSE  or  REPRESENTATIVES, 

January  23,  1882. 

DEATH   OF    HON.    AMBROSE    E.    BURNSIDE. 

A  message  from  the  Senate,  by  Mr.  Shober,  its  Acting  Secretary, 
communicated  the  following  resolutions  of  the  Senate  on  the  death 
of  Hon.  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE,  late  a  Senator  from  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island: 

Resolved,  That  from  an  earnest  desire  to  show  every  mark  of  respect  to  the 
memory  of  Hon.  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE,  late  a  Senator  of  the  United  States 
from  the  State  of  Rhode  Island,  and  to  manifest  the  high  esteem  entertained 
of  his  eminent  public  services  and  his  distinguished  patriotism,  the  business 
of  the  Senate  be  now  suspended  that  his  friends  and  associates  may  pay  fitting 
tribute  to  his  public  and  private  virtues. 

Resolved,  That  a  widespread  and  public  sorrow  on  the  announcement  of  his 
death  attested  the  profound  sense  of  the  loss  which  the  whole  country  has 
sustained. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  communicate  these  resolutions  to 
the  House  of  Representatives. 

Resolved,  That,  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  Sen 
ator,  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 

Mr.  CHACE  said :  I  submit  the  resolutions  which  I  send  to  the 
desk: 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  House  of  Representatives  has  received  with  profound 
sorrow  the  announcement  of  the  death  of  Hon.  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE,  late  a 
United  States  Senator  from  the  State  of  Rhode  Island. 

Resolved,  That  the  business  of  the  House  be  now  suspended  that  opportu 
nity  may  be  given  for  fitting  tributes  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased  and  to 
his  eminent  public  and  private  virtues;  and  that  as  a  further  mark  of  respect, 
the  House,  at  the  conclusion  of  such  remarks,  shall  adjourn. 

57 


58          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BUItNSlDE. 


Address  of  Mr.  CHACE,  of  Rhode  Island. 

Recognizing  the  eminent  fitness  of  Congress  placing  upon 
record  some  memorial  of  those  whose  names  have  been  stricken 
from  the  roll  of  either  House  by  the  hand  of  death;  in  deference 
to  the  common  sentiment  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Isl 
and;  and  impelled  also  by  my  own  feelings  of  personal  loss,  I 
submit  these  resolutions.  Few  men  have  been  more  fortunate 
than  was  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSLDE;  few  more  honored.  Few  have 
bound  to  themselves  their  friends  with  stronger  ties  than  he;  to 
few  have  come  greater  opportunities ;  upon  few  have  rested  greater 
responsibilities  in  life,  and  rarely  has  any  public  man  discharged 
the  trusts  laid  upon  him  more  happily  or  more  successfully.  It  was 
my  privilege  to  know  Senator  BURNSIDE  for  many  years,  never 
without  respect  and  esteem ;  of  latter  time  it  grew  into  a  sincere 
feeling  of  friendship  and  regard.  Widely  separated  as  we  were  in 
sentiment  and  belief  in  regard  to  some  points,  there  was  always  in 
him  a  gentle  forbearance  of  feeling,  a  kindly  consideration  towards 
those  who  differed  with  him,  that  could  not  fail  to  challenge  the 
warmest  response.  It  is  a  pleasure,  therefore,  to  emulate  the  broad 
charity  of  which  he  set  us  so  eminent  an  example,  and  in  my 
feeble  way  pay  a  few  brief  words  of  honest  tribute  to  the  many 
noble  qualities  of  his  head  and  heart.  He  was  a  soldier  and  I 
opposed  to  all  war;  yet  we  were  friends,  for  well  we  knew  that 

Dimly  in  the  present  view 
We  see  the  truth. 

Much  of  General  BURNSIDE'S  fame  rests  upon  his  military 
achievements,  upon  his  command  of  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  and  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  during  the  rebellion.  It  will  not  be 
expected  that  I  shall  speak  of  his  military  career.  That,  I  shall 
pass  over,  holding,  as  he  knew  I  did,  that  war  is  unjustifiable;  that 


ADDRESS  OF  MB.  CHACE,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  59 

under  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  it  is  not  right  to  take 
human  life  under  any  circumstances;  that 

Peace  nnweaponed  conquers  every  wrong. 

Had  BUKNSIDE  died  under  ordinary  circumstances  the  feelings 
of  the  people  would  have  found  much  greater  expression.  His 
death  carne  when  the  nation  was  holding  sad  vigil  at  the  bedside  of 
its  stricken  President ;  while  hope  was  struggling  with  fear ;  while 
all  hearts  were  deeply  touched  with  the  noble  courage  and  heroic 
patience  with  which  our  Chief  Magistrate  battled  for  life.  The 
nation  was  in  anguish.  In  the  midst  of  this  season,  so  full  of  sor 
row  and  grief,  while  the  hands  of  fifty  millions  would  fain  have 
been  put  forth  to  wrestle  with  the  angel  of  death  and  avert  the 
impending  sorrow,  Rhode  Island  was  called  upon  to  part  with  her 
favorite  son. 

Death  found  him  alone,  with  no  loving  hands  save  those  of 
trusted  and  faithful  servants  to  soothe  his  last  moments.  Although 
the  ties  of  kinship  brought  no  mourner,  his  was  not  a  tearless 
funeral.  The  State,  in  the  person  of  its  governor,  was  his  chief 
mourner,  and  thousands,  with  unfeigned  sorrow,  followed  his  bier 
to  the  grave. 

In  person  he  was  large  of  stature,  commanding  in  form,  with  a 
face  blending  manly  beauty  and  rugged  strength,  surmounted  by  a 
noble  brow.  With  a  most  contagious  smile,  nature  lent  a  graceful 
charm  to  every  lineament.  "His  eye,  turned  even  on  empty  space, 
beamed  keen  with  honor."  Physically,  his  was  a  rare  combination 
of  that  which  is  noble  and  lovable.  With  the  voice  of  a  stentor, 
that  could  compass  the  largest  audience,  yet  finely  modulated  to  the 
gentlest  emotion ;  open,  frank,  and  genial  in  manner ;  industrious, 
patient,  and  forceful ;  with  a  rare  self-control ;  bold  as  a  lion,  yet 
gentle  as  a  woman,  and  kindly  thoughtful  of  others,  what  won 
der  that  men  loved  him?  Rising  from  an  humble  position  and 


60          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

trained  for  a  military  life,  he  attained  eminence  as  a  civilian. 
Thrice  elected  governor  of  the  State  and  twice  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  honoring  himself  and  his  constituents  in  each  position,  his 
life  is  another  illustration  of  the  blessings  of  our  form  of  govern 
ment  and  the  great  opportunities  of  American  citizenship. 

He  was  a  wise  and  successful  legislator.  Making  no  preten 
sions  to  the  arts  of  oratory,  he  had  a  straightforward  manner  of 
expressing  himself,  unadorned  with  rhetorical  ornament,  which 
reached  the  judgment  of  his  hearers.  His  distinguishing  charac 
teristics  were  a  faithfulness  to  trusts  and  an  exalted  sense  of  honor. 
This  was  nobly  shown  by  his  assuming  the  responsibility  of  the 
failure  at  Fredericksburgh.  The  defeat  of  the  Union  Army  had 
depressed  the  spirits  of  the  loyal  men  of  the  North,  encouraging 
and  emboldening  those  who  sought  the  overthrow  of  the  govern 
ment  to  redouble  their  outcries  against  the  administration  that  the 
President  was  improperly  interfering  with  the  command  of  the 
Army.  The  dark  shadows  around  Lincoln's  eyes,  those  furrowed 
lines  on  his  sad  and  careworn  face,  increased  in  depth.  Discontent 
was  heard  on  every  side.  It  was  a  time  when  a  little  soul  would 
hide  itself  to  escape  blame.  Not  so  BURNSIDE.  "For  the  failure 
I  am  responsible,"  wrote  he.  That  was  moral  heroism.  Men  who 
would  face  physical  danger  without  blanching  would  hesitate  here. 
Men  will  brave  danger,  will  patiently  endure  suffering  for  the 
plaudits  of  the  public,  but  few  rise  to  the  noble  self-renunciation 
which  he  displayed  by  taking  to  himself  discredit  for  his  country's 
good.  Holding  strong  convictions  on  questions  of  public  policy, 
believing  in  party  organization  for  the  promotion  of  the  public 
weal,  he  yet  sunk  the  partisan  in  the  patriot.  As  a  legislator, 
urging  with  earnestness  such  measures  as  commended  themselves 
to  his  judgment,  the  differences  of  view  which  are  inevitable  among 
men  did  not  with  him  abate  the  warmth  of  personal  friendship. 

"  He  cherished  large  faith  in  humankind."     He  rose  above  the 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  GRACE,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  61 

strife  of  political  campaigns,  the  contests  of  party  cabal,  and  with 
cheerful  greeting  for  opponents  and  supporters,  pressed  on  with 
those  measures  which  he  believed  would  promote  the  material 
interests  of  the  country,  strengthen  that  which  is  pure,  educate  and 
enlighten  the  people  and  lead  them  up  to  higher  aspirations  for  the 
promotion  of  peace,  for  the  extinguishment  of  sectionalism,  the 
strengthening  of  friendship  among  States  and  peoples,  for  a  pure 
administration  of  justice  and  the  preservation  forever  of  the  liber 
ties  of  the  people.  Such  was  BURNSIDE.  Great  because  he  was 
faithful  and  true  according  to  his  light. 

His  strength  was  as  the  strength  often, 
Because  his  heart  was  pure. 

A  warrior  who  gloried  leas  in  feats  of  arms  than  in  the  substan 
tial  triumphs  of  the  arts  of  peace.  A  legislator  imbued  with  a  high 
appreciation  of  the  value  of  the  institutions  handed  down  to  us  by 
our  fathers ;  inspired  with  a  lofty  sense  of  the  responsibility  we  arc 
under  to  preserve  and  transmit  them  unimpaired  to  posterity.  A 
faithful  friend,  a  loving  husband,  the  charm  of  the  social  circle,  cut 
down  at  the  commencement  of  a  Senatorial  term  and  in  the  full 
tide  of  a  splendid  manhood. 

Life  is  not  measured  by  years,  but  by  acts.  It  is  not  the  rolling 
seasons,  but  entries  by  the  recording  angel  of  great  and  noble 
deeds;  not  the  daily  returning  sun,  but  the  repetition  of  those 
graceful  ministrations  which  bring  light  to  many  hearts,  that  tale 
the  life  of  man.  Measured  by  this  standard,  the  life  of  our  friend 
was  a  full  one.  The  body  has  perished  as  "  a  fig  tree  castcth  her 
untimely  figs,  when  shaken  of  a  mighty  wind  ";  but 

All  that  is  real  now  rcmaincth, 
Anil  fatleth  never. 


62          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  Of  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSWE. 


Address  of  Mr.  BROWNE,  of  Indiana. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  A  few  miles  distant  from  my  home  in  a 
picturesque  little  county,  once  a  part  of  the  Congressional  dis 
trict  I  have  the  honor  to  represent,  may  be  found  the  prosperous 
village  of  Liberty,  and  here  it  was  that  fifty-eight  years  ago  the 
sunlight  first  touched  the  eyes  of  the  great  and  good  man  to  whose 
memory  we  this  day  pay  tribute.  Eastern  Indiana,  along  with  its 
Mortons,  its  Smiths,  its  Parkers,  its  Nobles,  its  Rarideus,  and  its 
Merediths,  gave  the  late  Senator  from  Rhode  Island  to  the  Repub 
lic,  and  he,  too,  has  gone  to  join  these  illustrious  men  in  the  "silent 
halls  of  death."  Our  people  watched  the  now  dead  Senator,  and 
not  without  solicitude,  as  he  was  carving  out  his  great  career. 
They  are  as  proud  as  are  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  of  his 
achievements,  in  the  field  and  in  the  Senate,  and  they  mourn 
with  as  deep  a  sorrow  his  death.  Indiana  joins  her  sister  State 
on  this  sad  occasion,  and  their  tears  fall  together  on  the  newly- 
made  grave  of  their  heroic  son. 

It  seems  but  yesterday  that  I  saw  for  the-*last  time  the  Senator 
from  Rhode  Island.  It  was  in  this  House,  and  near  the  close  of 
the  last  session  of  Congress.  His  figure  was  as  erect  then,  his  eye 
as  bright,  his  step  as  elastic,  as  when  a  third  of  a  century  ago,  on 
the  Las  Vegas,  he  charged,  with  flashing  saber,  the  hostile  Apaches, 
"and  swept  them  before  him  like  chaff."  I  little  thought  then  that 
death  would  strike  so  soon,  but  it  came;  the  harp  is  unstrung;  his 
lips  are  mute,  his  eyes  sightless,  and  the  heart  that  was  throbbing 
with  warm  ambitions  is  cold  and  pulseless  forever.  "  But  death 
has  nothing  terrible  in  it  save  what  life  has  made  so";  and  he  had 
so  lived,  so  loyally  performed  his  duty,  that  we  may  hope  he  now, 

After  a  rough  day  of  toil, 
Enjoys  a  sleep  without  dreams. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  BROWNE,  OF  INDIANA.  63 

With  General  BURNSIDE  death  did  not  end  all,  for  the  deeds  of 
a  good  man  live  after  him.  A  life  well  spent  reaches  forward  and 
influences  the  ages.  The  generous,  the  heroic  in  man's  conduct  do 
not  turn  to  dust  nor  do  they  perish  in  the  grave.  The  good  deeds 
of  a  man's  life  are  as  fadeless  as  the  stars. 

Every  noble  deed  is  a  step  toward  heaven. 

Great  souls, 

By  nature  half  divine,  soar  to  the  stars 
And  hold  a  near  acquaintance  with  the  gods. 

Senator  BURNSIDE  will  live  right  on  in  the  deeds  of  gentleness 
and  kindness  that  made  up  the  web  and  woof  of  his  life.  He  will 
live  in  what  he  wrought  for  liberty;  in  what  he  did  to  make  sure 
the  foundation  of  our  republican  system  of  government. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  review  his  checkered  and  eventful 
career.  I  need  not  do  so.  His  life  record  is  made  up ;  his  fame 
is  safe  without  panegyric,  and  the  warmest  friendship  can  add  little 
to  it,  and  malice, 

The  foulest  whelp  of  sin, 
can  detract  nothing  from  it. 

Death  has  made  no  conquest  of  this  conqueror, 
For  now  he  lives  in  fame,  though  not  in  life. 

Senator  BURXSIDE  came  from  a  robust  Scotch  family,  and  there 
flowed  in  his  veins  the  blood  of  a  heroic  race.  His  ancestry  might 
be  traced  back  perhaps  to  the  bloody  fields  of  Bannockburn  and 
Flodden  Field,  where  the  sturdy  Scotch  soldiery  made  an  imperish 
able  record  of  valor.  His  parents  were  born  in  Scotland,  but  im 
migrated  to  America  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  settled  in  South  Carolina.  They  came  to  Indiana  Territory 
some  three  years  before  that  State  was  admitted  to  the  Union,  and 
here  in  Union  County  he  was  born  and  passed  the  days  of  his 
boyhood. 

Of  his  youth  I  know  little  beyond  the  fact  that  his  opportuni 
ties  for  intellectual  training  were  limited  to  those  placed  within  his 


64         LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

reach  by  the  crude  educational  system  of  a  pioneer  people,  and  that 
before  he  attained  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  sufficiently  advanced 
in  his  studies  to  be  fit  for  admission  to  our  national  military  acad 
emy.  Before  going  to  West  Point  he  learned  the  trade  of  a  tailor, 
and  was  engaged  in  that  pursuit.  He  was  but  a  boy  then ;  his 
father  had  met  with  financial  reverses,  and  young  BURNSIDE  was 
wise  enough  to  accommodate  himself  to  his  changed  condition, 
brave  enough  to  confront  and  grapple  misfortune,  and  strong 
enough  to  conquer  it. 

Who  hath  riot  known  ill-fortune,  never  knew 
Himself,  or  his  own  virtue. 

A  few  days  since,  the  learned  gentleman  now  writing  his  biog 
raphy  gave  me  the  circumstances  attending  Senator  BURNSIDE'S 
appointment  to  West  Point.  In  1841  Caleb  B.  Smith,  then  a 
Representative  in  Congress  from  Indiana,  found  him  a  mere  strip 
ling  in  a  tailor  shop  at  Liberty,  plying  his  trade,  and  at  the  same 
time  reading  a  book  on  tactics.  He  found  that  the  youth  had  an 
intense  desire  for  military  life.  Mr.  Smith  at  once  recommended 
his  appointment  to  a  cadetship,  and  in  this  was  joined  by  the  general 
assembly  of  Indiana,  then  in  session.  As  Mr.  Smith  had  bitterly 
antagonized  President  Tyler's  administration,  his  effort  was  unavail 
ing.  Just  here  a  gentleman,  who  had  been  Mr.  Smith's  competitor 
in  the  Congressional  race,  came  to  the  tailor  boy's  rescue.  He  had 
written  a  series  of  articles  in  defense  of  the  administration  that  so 
pleased  the  President  that  he  awarded  the  patronage  of  the  district 
to  him,  and  at  his  suggestion  AMBROSE  EVERETT  BURNSIDE  was 
given  an  opportunity  to  gratify  his  youthful  ambition. 

How  trivial  a  circumstance  ofttimes  changes  the  current  of  a  life ! 
Out  of  what  a  little  germ  there  sometimes  grows  a  great  opportunity ! 
And  say  what  we  may  all  the  past  teaches  that  men  cannot  be  great 
without  a  great  occasion.  Opportunities  improved  make  men — 
opportunities  lost  unmake  them. 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  BROWNE,  OF  INDIANA.  65 

The  incident  I  have  given  took  the  youthful  BURNSIDE  from 
the  workshop  of  the  village  tailor,  opened  up  before  him  a  broader 
arena  in  which  to  fight  the  life-battle,  and  make  it  possible  for  him 
to  crowd  his  future  with  illustrious  deeds.  But  "  Heaven  from  all 
creatures  hides  the  book  of  fate." 

The  horoscope  did  not  forecast  the  work  he  had  to  do.  Before  him 
were  fatiguing  journeys  through  the  perilous  fastnesses  of  the  South 
west,  the  hardships  of  frontier  life,  the  dangers  of  savage  warfare, 
the  horrors  of  an  immense  and  cruel  civil  war,  the  bloody  fields  of 
South  Mountain,  of  Antietam,  of  the  Wilderness,  Petersburgh,  Cold 
Harbor,  Spottsylvania,  and  Fredericksburg,  where  thousands  upon 
thousands  went  down  in  the  storm  and  agony  of  angry  war.  These 
dangers,  these  sad  and  terrible  conflicts,  these  fields  of  suffering  and 
death,  bringing  sometimes  disaster,  sometimes  victory,  were  General 
BURNSIDE'S  great  occasion ;  and  here  he  made  his  record  as  a  soldier. 
That  record  will  endure  until  the  events  of  the  most  bloody  and 
most  sorrowful  epoch  in  the  world's  annals  shall  fade  from  history. 

But,  sir,  his  fame  is  not  alone  that  of  a  soldier,  for  he  was  three 
times  elected  governor  of  Rhode  Island  by  her  people,  and  twice 
chosen  by  the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  her  general  assembly  to 
a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Few  men  ever  had  such 
a  hold  on  the  affections  of  a  people  as  he  had  on  that  of  the  people 
of  his  adopted  State.  They  admired  him  as  a  soldier ;  they  con 
fided  in  his  wisdom  and  integrity  as  a  statesman,  and,  more  than 
all,  they  loved  him  as  a  man.  As  executive  and  as  Senator  he 
maintained  his  political  beliefs  with  the  courage  of  conviction,  and 
never  faltered  in  the  support  of  what  he  thought  to  be  right. 

Sir,  his  career  is  too  full  of  great  events  to  be  reviewed  on  an  oc 
casion  like  this.  I  will  not  attempt  it.  To  repeat  the  story  of  his 
life  would  be  to  re-write  the  history  of  the  gallant  Ninth  Army 
Corps,  of  the  heroic  and  battle-scarred  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 

indeed  of  the  rebellion  itself. 
SB 


66          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

I' need  not  pass  in  review  his  campaigns  nor  fight  over  his  battles. 
Although  the  armies  he  commanded  are  disbanded  now,  "their 
battle-flags  furled,  their  bugles  silent/'  and  thousands  of  his  fellow- 
soldiers  sleep  with  him  in  the  cold  bivouac  of  the  dead,  his  honor 
is  forever  secure,  for  the  memory  of  his  sacrifices  for  human  liberty 
and  the  Union  of  the  States  is  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  a  patriotic 
people,  and  guarded  with  scrupulous  care  by  the  heroes  who  sur 
vive  him.  Men  do  not  read  alike  a  human  life,  for  they  see  it  from 
different  angles.  To  judge  a  man  impartially  is  difficult  also,  because 
we  are  too  apt  to  estimate  his  life  in  the  light  of  its  influence  upon 
our  party  or  personal  interests.  A  point  in  individual  character 
which  strikes  a  friend  as  a  strong  one  is  unnoticed  by  the  indiffer 
ent,  and  is  set  down  by  an  enemy  as  a  weakness  or  a  crime. 

I  can  only  speak  to-day  of  General  BURNSIDE  as  he  appeared  to 
me,  and  I  speak  as  a  personal  and  political  friend. 

He  was  kindness  itself.  A  more  genial,  kindly  nature  I  never 
knew ;  and  it  was  as  unostentatious  as  it  was  kind.  Where  known 
he  will  long  be  remembered  by 

That  best  portion  of  a  good  man's  life, 
His  little,  nameless,  unrecorded  acts 
Of  kindness  and  of  love. 

And  withal  he  had  the  merit  of  modesty,  which  imparted  strength 
and  beauty  to  his  character  and  gave  color  to  almost  every  act  of 
his  public  and  private  life.  He  both  suspected  and  respected  him 
self.  At  all  times  he  so  reverenced  himself  as  not  to  "  bend  the 
pregnant  hinges  of  the  knee  that  thrift  might  follow  fawning." 

In  every  sphere  of  Senator  BUBNSIDE'S  life  he  regarded  "the 
post  of  duty  as  the  post  of  honor."  He  believed  when  the  flag 
was  shot  at  in  Charleston  Harbor  it  was  his  duty  to  give  his  serv 
ices  to  the  nation  that  had  generously  educated  him.  He  believed, . 
moreover,  that  the  rebellion  was  a  crime,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
go  into  the  conflict.  When,  on  the  15th  day  of  April,  1861,  Gov- 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  BROWNE,  OF  INDIANA.  67 

ernor  Spraguc  telegraphed  him:  "A  regiment  of  Rhode  Island 
troops  will  go  to  Washington  this  week;  when  can  you  come  on 
and  take  command?"  he  promptly  responded,  "At  once."  From 
that  day  until  the  war  ended  he  was  a  part  of  it,  and  his  name  a 
part  of  its  history.  He  was  a  man  of  intrepid  courage — a  courage 
unmixed  with  insolence  or  brutality. 

His  was  not  the  brutal  force 
Of  vulgar  heroes, 

for  in  no  sense  of  the  word  was  he  a  braggart  or  a  bully.  He 
feared  no  man  but  himself.  If  there  was  one  infirmity  in  his 
nature  it  was  the  lack  of  self-confidence.  He  did  a  great  injustice 
to  his  own  powers,  for  he  was  an  infinitely  greater  and  stronger 
man  than  he  thought  himself  to  be.  He  weakened  himself  by  his 
self-distrust,  and  sometimes  failed  to  win — not  because  he  feared 
his  personal  safety,  but  because  he  was  afraid  he  might  put  in 
jeopardy  his  country  and  its  cause.  A  thousand  instances  of  his 
personal  heroism  might  be  given,  and  I  am  tempted  to  refer  to 
one.  In  January,  1862,  when  the  fleet  bearing  his  troops  was 
attempting  to  make  Hatteras  Inlet  it  was  struck  by  a  storm  which 
threatened  its  destruction.  Perhaps  no  more  fearful  gale  ever 
swept  the  bosom  of  the  sea.  One  who  was  in  the  boat  with  him 
says: 

Bravely  \ve  breasted  on  in  our  little  boat,  staggering  beneath  the  giant 
blows  of  each  successive  sea,  our  decks  swept  fore  and  aft,  and  all  on  board 
reeling  from  side  to  side  like  drunken  men.  One  figure  only  stood  unblauched, 
immovable,  grasping  by  the  bits,  scanning  the  horizon  for  traces  of  his  lost 
ships  as  we  rose  on  each  glittering  mass  of  foam,  and  that  was  the  square, 
manly  form  of  General  BURNSIBE. 

To  face  without  alarm  such  a  danger,  a  danger  with  which  one 
cannot  grapple,  the  terrible  rage  of  a  remorseless  sea,  requires  a 
courage  few  men  possess.  Nor  was  fear  with  him  when  the  battle 
was  on,  when  shot  rained  about  him  and  the  bursting  shell  plowed 
the  ground  at  his  feet. 


68          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURN  SIDE. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  Senator  BURNSIDE  had  a  more  sublime  hero 
ism  than  that  which  faced  an  angry  sea,  or  rode  down  on  the  ad 
versary  in  the  charge  of  the  troopers,  or  stormed  the  entrenchments 
through  the  smoke  of  musketry  and  cannon,  for  he  was  brave 
enough  to  take  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  his  mistakes  and 
his  failures.  Who  can  forget  his  magnanimity  after  the  defeat  at 
Fredericksburg  ?  He  might  have  imitated  the  example  so  fre 
quently  set  during  the  war  of  throwing  the  responsibility  upon 
some  subordinate.  He  might  well  have  cast  upon  the  authorities 
at  Washington,  where  it  belonged,  a  share  of  the  blame  for  this 
disaster.  "  To  the  brave  officers  and  soldiers,"  he  said,  "  I  owe 
everything — for  the  failure  in  the  attack  I  am  responsible." 
Where  does  this  find  its  parallel  ?  Who  in  that  day  of  rivalry, 
of  jealousy  among  our  military  chieftains,  was  capable  of  a  cour 
age  so  frank  and  manly  ? 

But,  sir,  I  must  pause  here.  I  must  content  myself  with  this 
brief  outline  of  a  great  man's  life.  The  historian  will  embalm  his 
deeds  of  goodness  and  valor.  Future  generations  will  learn  from 
General  BURNSIDE'S  example  the  lesson  of  devotion  to  duty  and 
loyalty  to  human  liberty. 

The  statesman  and  soldier  has  gone  to  a  rest  all  undisturbed  by 
the  envy,  or  pride,  or  hate,  or  ambition  of  men,  or  by  the  rage  and 
tumult  of  the  battle.  No  rivalries  now  molest  him.  He  is  beyond 
reproach  or  praise — the  one  cannot  please  nor  the  other  offend ;  and 
here  we  leave  him  until  the  morning  of  the  Everlasting  Day 
breaks  upon  his  grave. 

Heroic  spirit,  take  your  rest ! 

You  are  richer ;  we  are  poorer ; 
Yet  because  you  have  becu  with  us 

Life  is  manlier,  heaven  surer. 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  RICE,  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.  69 


Address  of  Mr.  RICE,  of  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  To  Rhode  Island,  the  State  which  honored  her 
self  in  honoring  him,  properly  belongs  the  first  place  in  the  obse 
quies  of  Senator  BURNSIDE. 

Indiana,  the  State  of  his  birth,  fitly  stands  by  her  side.  Massa 
chusetts,  by  the  love  she  bore  him,  by  the  high  honor  and  respect 
in  which  she  holds  his  memory,  claims  the  privilege,  almost  as 
a  matter  of  right,  of  being  one  in  the  family  group  around  his 
premature  grave. 

There  are  thousands  of  brave  men  in  my  district  who  followed 
him  on  the  most  eventful  days  of  their  lives,  to  whom,  ever  since, 
his  presence  has  been  a  benediction,  his  hand-clasp  with  theirs  a 
pledge  of  mutual  love  and  fealty,  who  would  not  pardon  me  did  I 
not  add  their  tribute  and  mine  to  these  memorial  services. 

BURNSIDE,  more  than  most  men,  made  for  himself  the  position 
he  held  in  public  life.  Born  in  Indiana,  he  was  little  more  than  a 
sojourner  in  Rhode  Island  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  Colonel 
of  her  first  volunteer  regiment,  he  rose  rapidly  in  the  service  by  his 
own  merits.  After  the  war  he  was  made  by  the  State  which  had 
adopted  him  first  Governor,  then  United  States  Senator,  in  quick 
succession. 

Before  reaching  the  prescribed  limit  of  three-score  years  he  died, 
leaving,  I  believe,  no  one  in  the  State  in  whose  veins  ran  blood 
kindred  with  his  own.  But  the  day  of  his  funeral  was  probably 
the  saddest  in  the  annals  of  Rhode  Island.  All  business  was  sus 
pended,  all  buildings  were  draped,  all  the  people  were  in  the  solemn 
procession  which  followed  his  remains  to  the  grave.  There  was  no 
division  of  sentiment,  no  immunity  from  the  common  grief — all 
felt  that  the  most  honored  citizen,  the  best  beloved  man  within  the 
limits  of  the  little  State,  had  been  removed  by  death. 


70         LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

Surely  this  man  must  have  had  some  rare  qualities.  He  was  an 
exotic  from  a  distant  land,  his  ancestral  roots  all  remote;  yet  no 
oak  ever  stood  more  firmly  in  its  native  soil,  than  he  in  the  affec 
tions  of  that  community  on  the  day  of  his  death — his  kindred  all 
scattered  and  far  away,  tens  of  thousands  marked  with  tearful  eyes 
and  saddened  hearts  the  bells  that  tolled  his  funeral  march. 

What,  then,  were  these  qualities  that  won  for  him  this  strong 
place,  this  warm  love,  beyond  that  granted  to  most  men  ?  Was  he 
a  great  orator,  a  brilliant  statesman  ?  Not  at  all.  Had  his  military 
career  been  such  as  to  dazzle  the  popular  imagination  and  secure 
for  him  these  grand  obsequies?  Other  generals  associated  with  him 
won  fame  far  transcending  his. 

Not  to  brilliant  speech,  or  gifted  statesmanship,  or  martial  prow 
ess  can  we  attribute  the  wonderful  success  of  his  life ;  but  to  the 
possession,  in  harmonious  symmetry,  of  those  virtues  which  make 
the  good  and  true  man  whom  all  love  and  trust. 

Perhaps  his  most  prominent  characteristic  was  his  unvarying 
kindness  of  heart.  His  nature  overflowed  in  lavish,  open-handed 
hospitality.  Always  happy  with  his  friends  around  him,  he  was 
never  happier  than  when  his  soldiers  responded  to  the  invitation  of 
their  old  commander  and  pitched  their  tents  upon  the  pleasant  lawn 
of  his  sea-side  home.  His  heart  was  as  capacious  as  his  grounds ; 
it  had  room  for  all.  Not  only  his  brother  Senator,  his  social  ac 
quaintance,  the  soldier  who  had  followed  his  war-worn  flag,  but  the 
poorest  outcast  as  well,  no  matter  what  his  color  or  condition,  could 
not  look  on  his  face  and  fail  to  know  a  friend. 

How  truly  the  man  within  shone  out  through  his  physical  envi 
ronment!  Who  that  saw  him  will  ever  forget  his  tall,  erect  figure; 
his  dignified  step;  his  face  beaming  with  kindly  good-nature;  the 
politeness,  not  cultivated  but  instinctive,  which  marked  his  inter 
course  with  all  ?  Recalling  .him  thus,  we  marvel  no  longer  at  the 
affectionate  regard  in  which  he  was  held  by  all  who  knew  him. 


ADDRESS  OF  ME.  EICE,  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.  71 

His  integrity  was  unquestionable.  I  do  not  use  the  word  in  its 
narrow  sense  of  personal  incorruptibility,  but  in  its  larger  signifi 
cance  of  moral  soundness  and  purity.  His  ambition  was  not  in 
self-seeking,  but  in  well-doing ;  therein  was  his  strength.  He  was 
undoubtedly  pleased  by  popular  favor,  but  he  sought  it  by  no  tricks 
of  demagogism.  He  accepted  it  and  was  proud  of  it  as  the  result 
and  reward  of  a  life  spent  in  faithful  service  to  his  fellow-men,  but 
he  was  incapable  of  using  it  for  any  unworthy  purpose.  Whatever 
trust  was  confided  to  him  was  safe  in  his  hands.  His  honesty  was 
so  transparent  that  it  was  scarcely  noticed  or  considered  by  those 
about  him.  His  character  repelled  criticism  and  slander  as  the  per 
fect  mirror  repels  the  foul  breath  blown  against  it,  itself  as  stainless 
as  before.  This  single-hearted  integrity  involved  absolute  faithful 
ness  in  the  discharge  of  duty.  Modest,  he  distrusted  his  own  ability 
for  the  accomplishment  of  great  things,  yet  never  shrank  from  any 
responsibilities  which  his  position  imposed  upon  him.  His  model 
was  the  officer  who,  when  asked  to  storm  an  almost  impregnable 
position,  replied,  "I  will  try,"  and  if  the  trial  was  not  successful, 
it  was  made  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability. 

Such  was  BURNSIDE — always  kind,  honest,  and  faithful.  His 
life  was  marked  by  no  brilliant  exploits  like  the  fitful  flashes  of 
electric  storms,  or  even  like  the  colors  of  sunrise  and  sunset,  too 
bright  to  last,  but  was  rather  like  the  constant  mellow  light  of  a 
pleasant  summer  day.  Such  lives  are  the  healthiest,  most  useful, 
most  in  accord  with  our  institutions. 

Popular  education,  which  BURNSIDE  sought  to  promote,  has  pre 
cluded  the  possibility  of  individual  domination  in  this  republic. 
The  exceptionally  great  men  of  past  times  were  developed  by  the 
exercise  of  power,  the  usurpation  of  which  an  educated  people  will 
not  permit.  We  shall  never  produce  a  Csesar,  a  Napoleon,  or  even 
a  Cromwell.  We  do  better.  We  have  our  BUENSIDES  every 
where,  calm,  intelligent,  patriotic,  never  seeking  to  oppose  or  divert 


72          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

the  .great  currents  of  popular  progress,  but  content  to  watch  them, 
to  move  with  them,  and  if  storm  or  danger  come,  at  whatever  per 
sonal  risk,  to  mend  the  breaches  or  remove  the  obstructions  that  the 
mighty  stream  may  flow  on  in  unchecked  majesty  and  strength. 

It  is  enough  to  say  of  BUENSIDE — nothing  better  need  be  said 
of  any  man — courteous  gentleman,  honest  statesman,  friend,  tender 
and  true,  in  whatever  position,  civil,  military,  or  social,  for  State, 
for  nation,  for  humanity,  he  always  did  what  he  could. 


Address  of  Mr.  HENDERSON,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  have  served  under 
the  command  of  General  BURNSIDE  for  a  time  during  the  late  war, 
and  to  have  known  him  well ;  and  while  I  have  made  no  prepara 
tion  to  speak  on  this  occasion,  yet  I  feel  that  I  cannot  remain  silent 
and  allow  these  proceedings  in  his  memory  to  pass  without  at  least 
paying  some  tribute  to  the  memory  of  one  whom  I  greatly  honored 
and  deeply  loved.  I  followed  General  BURNSIDE  in  1863  over 
the  mountains  into  the  State  of  Tennessee,  and  served  under  his 
command  until  after  the  battle  of  Knoxville,  in  November  of  that 
year,  when  he  was  relieved  from  the  command  of  the  Department 
of  the  Ohio  at  his  own  request;  and  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  say 
here  what  I  know  would  find  utterance  in  the  heart  of  every  officer 
and  soldier  who  served  under  his  command,  that  no  braver  nor 
better  man  ever  commanded  an  army  than  General  BURNSIDE,  and 
no  man  ever  had  a  kindlier  heart  than  he — too  kind,  I  sometimes 
thought,  for  strict  military  discipline;  yet  he  always  kept  his  army 
well  in  hand,  as  I  think  was  attested  during  the  campaign  of  East 
Tennessee  in  1863.  From  the  time  he  took  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Ohio  in  the  field  in  person  until  he  was  relieved  at  his  own 
request,  he  did  all  for  the  honor  and  success  of  his  army  and  for  his 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  HENDERSON,  OF  ILLINOIS.  73 

country  that  a  brave  officer,  a  skillful  commander,  and  a  true  patriot 
could  do.  His  presence  always  inspired  hope  and  confidence  in  the 
hearts  of  the  officers  and  men  who  served  under  him,  and  I  am 
sure  no  commanding  officer  was  ever  more  generally  beloved  by  his 
army  than  was  General  BURSTSIDE. 

Mr.  Speaker,  General  BURNSIDE  had  a  brave  heart,  a  heart  so 
brave  that  I  have  sometimes  thought  he  was  absolutely  insensible 
to  personal  danger.  But  while  he  had  a  brave  heart,  it  was  as  ten 
der  as  that  of  a  child,  and  full  of  kindness  for  all  men.  I  do  not 
think  an  officer  or  a  soldier  who  served  under  him,  and  who  is 
worthy  of  the  name,  can  be  found  but  will  love  and  cherish  his 
memory  as  a  great  soldier  and  a  true  patriot. 

He  loved  and  cared  for  his  army ;  was  anxious  for  the  welfare 
and  comfort  of  his  men,  but  while  he  was  always  considerate  for 
the  safety  and  success  of  his  command,  he  yet  had  an  earnest  and 
sincere  patriotism  which  led  him,  when  occasion  demanded  it,  to 
peril  everything  in  the  interest  of  his  country.  I  shall  never  forget, 
sir,  one  occasion,  when  broken  down  in  health,  I  felt  compelled  to 
offer  him  my  resignation,  and  called  on  him  in  person  for  that  pur 
pose.  He  said  to  me :  "I  cannot  accept  your  resignation,  colonel ; 
the  country  needs  your  services  and  it  needs  mine,  and  we  must  give 
all  we  have  to  our  country.  I  know  the  condition  of  your  health, 
and  will  take  care  of  you,  but  cannot  accept  your  resignation." 

Mr.  Speaker,  it  was  such  earnest  patriotism,  such  fidelity  to 
duty,  and  such  kindness  of  heart  as  an  officer  which  made  every 
man  who  served  under  General  BURNSIDE  love  and  honor  him. 

It  might  have  been  as  well  for  me  to  have  remained  silent  on 
this  occasion,  but  if  I  had  done  so  I  know  my  comrades,  the  offi 
cers  and  men,  who  served  under  and  with  me  in  the  Army  of  the 
Ohio  during  the  time  General  BURNSIDE  commanded  it,  and  espe 
cially  during  the  memorable  campaign  of  East  Tennessee  in  1863, 
would  think  I  had  not  done  justice  to  myself  nor  to  them.  I  have 


74         LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

therefore  offered  these  remarks,  imperfect  as  they  have  been,  to 
give  some  expression  to  the  sentiment  of  respect  which  I,  in  com 
mon,  as  I  think,  with  all  my  comrades  of  the  Army  of  the  Ohio, 
entertained  for  a  beloved  commander  now  gone  from  us  forever. 
Concurring  in  what  has  been  so  eloquently  said  by  other  speakers 
who  have  preceded  me,  it  will  ever  be  to  me  a  pleasure,  while  I 
love  my  country  and  the  brave  and  gallant  men  who  saved  it,  to 
honor  and  cherish  the  memory  of  General  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 


Address  of  Mr.  PETTIBONE,  of  Tennessee. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  One  by  one  the  soldiers  of  the  Republic  who  freely 
periled  their  lives  on  many  a  bloody  battle  field  during  the  war  of 
the  rebellion  that  this  nation  might  live  are  passing  away !  To-day 
we  mourn  the  loss  of  that  gallant  gentleman  and  stout  soldier,  AM 
BROSE  E.  BURNSIDE.  As  the  Representative  of  the  first  district  of 
Tennessee,  a  district  which  sent  thousands  of  its  citizens  to  swell 
the  ranks  of  the  Union  army  under  his  command,  I  cannot  refrain 
from  laying  a  little  sprig  of  mountain  laurel  on  the  grave  of  the 
deliverer  of  East  Tennessee. 

In  the  darkest  hour  of  the  civil  war  it  was  his  good  fortune  to 
lead  the  Union  forces  across  the  mountains  and  to  bring  back  to  our 
people  the  loved  banner  which  their  fathers  had  followed  when 
Andrew  Jackson  led  the  Tennessee  soldiers  on  the  plains  of  Chal- 
mette  in  the  defense  of  New  Orleans.  And  it  is  entirely  safe  to  say 
that  among  the  homes  of  the  Union  people  of  Eastern  Tennessee 
no  name  is  to-day  held  in  dearer  remembrance  than  his.  His  so 
journ  among  them  was  marked  by  a  flowing  courtesy  toward  all  men 
which  softened  the  asperities  of  war  and  made  all  to  speak  his  praise. 
His  urbanity,  his  leonine  courage,  his  transparent  honesty,  his  un 
questioned  integrity,  his  patriotism,  which  was  as  broad  as  the 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  SPOONER,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  75 

limits  of  the  Union,  stamped  him  a  born  leader  of  men.  In  my 
last  interview  with  him  he  sent  his  good  wishes  to  his  old  comrades, 
and  expressed  his  warm  regard  for  those  whom  he  had  succored  in 
the  dark  days  of  war.  While  stoutly  maintaining  the  Union  cause 
he  so  bore  himself  that  those  who  had  thrown  their  fortunes  into 
the  scale  of  the  Confederacy  were  compelled  to  honor  the  Union 
general  who  was  tender  toward  the  women  and  children,  the  weak 
and  the  suffering  of  every  age,  class,  and  condition.  Among  our 
mountains  hundreds  of  children  have  been  named  for  him,  for  he 
won  the  heart-love  of  our  people.  But,  sir,  I  speak  no  more  of 
his  renown : 

Whatever  record  leaps  to  light, 
He  uever  shall  bo  shamed. 


Address  of  Mr.  SPOONER,  of  Rhode  Island. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  The  sudden  death  of  Senator  BURNSIDE,  which 
has  been  so  properly  recognized  as  a  national  affliction,  overwhelmed 
the  people  of  Rhode  Island  in  a  great  common  sorrow. 

BURNSIDE  was  of  the  foremost  of  our  most  eminent  men,  and 
held  the  largest  share  in  the  affections  of  our  people.  His  com 
manding  form  was  the  most  familiar  figure  in  our  State ;  his  pres 
ence  in  any  public  gathering  always  evoked  the  heartiest  greeting ; 
his  name  was  a  "  household  word,"  mentioned  with  respect  in  every 
Rhode  Island  home.  Thousands  of  my  fellow-citizens  had  fol 
lowed  him  through  the  varying  fortunes  of  his  campaigns,  from 
Bull  Run  to  Petersburg,  and  had  learned  to  appreciate  his  manly 
virtues  where,  in  fidelity  to  a  common  cause,  friendships  were 
welded  in  the  fierce  fire  of  battle.  We  all  loved  and  honored  him, 
not  less  for  the  noble  and  endearing  traits  of  his  character  than  for 
his  illustrious  public  services  and  achievements,  and  mourned  his 
loss  as  the  saddest  bereavement. 


76          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

We  had  recognized  no  indications  of  the  approach  of  the  dread 
messenger;  he  came  unheralded  and  unannounced.  But  the  day 
before  his  death  Senator  BUENSIDE  was  mingling  with  our  people, 
engaged  in  his  ordinary  occupations,  in  the  apparent  enjoyment  of 
his  usual  health,  and  in  the  full  maturity  of  his  powers.  Neither 
age  nor  disease  had  impaired  his  faculties  nor  seemingly  diminished 
the  vigor  of  his  robust  manhood,  and  a  long  career  of  increasing 
usefulness  to  the  nation  and  his  State  seemed  open  before  him.  Se 
cure  in  the  confidence  and  affections  of  our  people ;  adorned  with 
all  the  dignities  and  honors  which  they  could  bestow;  just  entering, 
at  their  repeated  call,  upon  his  second  term  as  United  States  Sena 
tor;  trusted,  honored,  and  beloved  by  the  nation  as  few  other  men 
ever  have  been,  his  future  seemed  radiant  with'  brilliant  promise 
and  honorable  possibilities.  Yet  the  insidious  destroyer,  unsus 
pected  and  unrecognized,  had  crept  within  the  portals  of  his  life ; 
and  even  preceding  the  knowledge  of  his  illness  came  the  shocking 
tidings,  BUENSIDE  is  dead! 

Although  a  native  of  another  State,  Senator  BURNSIDE  had  long 
been  a  citizen  of  Rhode  Island  and  largely  concerned  in  her  aifairs 
in  both  private  and  public  capacities.  Educated  at  West  Point 
and  serving  with  gallantry  in  the  United  States  Army,  he  had, 
prior  to  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  been  a  distinguished  citizen  of 
our  State,  and  had  been  identified  with  and  in  command  of  our 
State  militia;  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1861  was  naturally 
selected  as  the  colonel  of  our  "  First  Rhode  Island,"  that  regiment, 
composed  of  the  best  of  our  patriotic  sons,  which,  rushing  to  the 
defense  of  the  Union  cause,  was  among  the  first  to  report  for  duty 
at  the  nation's  capital. 

I  refrain  from  unnecessary  reference  to  that  great  struggle ;  for 
the  record  and  the  results,  familiar  to  all,  illuminate  the  pages  of 
our  country's  history,  and  live  and  are  perpetuated  in  our  customs 
and  our  institutions,  in  our  Constitution  and  our  laws.  And  I 


ADDRESS  OF  MB.  SPOONER,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  71 

scarcely  need  to  recall  how  prominent  a  part  in  the  historic  events 
of  that  critical  period  in  our  national  existence  was  enacted  by 
our  late  Senator. 

The  war  for  the  Union,  involving,  as  it  did,  issues  of  greater 
magnitude  and  importance  than  had  ever  before  been  submitted  to 
the  arbitrament  of  arms — the  supremacy  of  law,  the  honor  of  our 
flag,  the  very  life  of  the  Republic — aroused,  as  no  less  cause  could, 
all  that  earnest  patriotism,  fidelity,  and  devotion  to  country  and  to 
duty  which  were  among  the  stronger  traits  of  BURNSIDE'S  character. 

His  allegiance  and  his  best  services  during  those'unhappy  years 
of  civil  strife  were  constant,  zealous,  and  unquestioning. 

He  fully  recognized  the  necessity  of  that  most  positive  of  mili 
tary  laws,  that  to  the  superior  belongs  command,  to  the  subordinate 
unhesitating  obedience,  and  cheerfully  submitted  to  its  require 
ments.  It  was  for  the  government  to  command  his  service,  as  and 
where  it  should  be  required;  it  was  for  him  to  serve,  irrespective 
of  personal  preferences;  and  so  we  find  him,  all  through  his  mili 
tary  career  and  in  every  field  of  duty,  whether  as  a  subordinate  or 
in  high  or  independent  command,  ever  the  same  conscientious,  faith 
ful  patriot-soldier,  forgetful  of  self  and  regardless  of  personal 
advantage,  bending  his  best  ability  and  energy  toward  the  success 
ful  prosecution  of  the  great  cause  in  which  he  was  enlisted. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  to  say  that  BUENSIDE  was  with 
out  ambition,  for  I  believe  he  was  unusually  imbued  with  that 
loftiest  of  all  ambitions — a  determination  to  perform  his  duty 
thoroughly  and  well ;  and  that  he  highly  valued  the  appreciative 
and  just  approbation  of  his  fellow-men,  and  the  rank  and  station 
which  are  the  insignia  of  its  recognition.  It  might  perhaps  have 
saved  the  country  from  years  of  desolating  war,  with  the  attendant 
expenditure  of  treasure  and  of  blood,  had  more  of  our  general 
officers  possessed  in  like  degree  a  similar  unselfish  ambition. 

I  will  not  at  this  time  and  upon  this,  perhaps  unfitting,  occasion 


78          LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  AMBROSE  E.  BURNSIDE. 

pause  to  argue  or  consider  the  comparative  position  which  should  be 
assigned  to  BURNSIDE  among  the  great  generals  of  our  times.  I 
apprehend  that  the  calm,  dispassionate  investigation  of  history  will 
accord  to  him  the  high  position  to  which  he  is  entitled  in  the  tem 
ple  of  fame,  and  will  point  the  moral  of  his  heroic  life,  his  lofty 
purposes,  and  of  his  distinguished  and  honorable  achievements. 
Yet  with  the  vivid  recollections  which  these  thoughts  recall  of  that 
service  which  I  had  the  honor  to  share  under  his  command,  I  would 
unfaithfully  represent  my  comrades  of  the  "old  Ninth  Army 
Corps"  did  I  fail  to  testify  to  the  mutual  confidence,  affection,  and 
esteem  which  always  existed  between  them  and  their  commanding 
general.  No  officer  could  have  been  more  thoughtful  and  consid 
erate  for  those  of  every  rank  and  station  under  his  command  than 
was  General  BURNSIDE;  and  none,  I  believe,  ever  inspired  his 
officers  and  men  with  such  universal  devotion  and  veneration  for 
their  commanding  general.  I  know  of  no  other  general  in  the 
Union  Army  who  so  completely  held  the  unquestioning  confidence 
and  affection  of  his  men.  To  them  his  presence  was  an  inspira 
tion;  his  smile  almost  a  benediction.  Wherever  they  may  have 
served  under  him,  whether  in  his  regiment,  his  brigade,  or  his 
illustrious  "old  Ninth  Army  Corps,"  his  surviving  comrades,  while 
dropping  bitter  tears  over  his  grave,  recall  with  just  pride  the 
recollection  and  the  record  of  their  service  with  Major-General 
BURNSIDE. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  modestly  wearing  the  honors  he 
had  won,  General  BURNSIDE  resumed  his  residence  in  Rhode 
Island ;  where,  in  the  following  year,  he  was  elected  governor  of 
the  State,  an  office  which  he  filled  during  three  successive  years,  by 
as  many  successive  elections,  to  his  own  honor  and  the  high  satis 
faction  of  our  people. 

In  1874  he  was  the  choice  of  Rhode  Island  for  United  States 
Senator ;  and,  having  completed  his  first  term  with  credit  and  dis- 


ADDRESS  OF  MR.  SPOONER,  OF  RHODE  ISLAND.  79 

tinction,  and  won  the  just  commendation  of  our  State  for  the 
earnestness,  care,  and  discrimination  with  which  he  performed  the 
duties  of  his  office  and  discharged  every  trust  committed  to  his 
charge,  was  in  1880  re-elected  to  his  seat  in  the' United  States  Sen 
ate,  and  had  scarcely  entered  upon  his  second  term  at  the  time  of 
his  sudden  and  seemingly  untimely  death. 

He  fell  in  the  ripeness  of  his  fame,  adorned  with  the  honors 
showered  upon  him  by  a  grateful  people,  leaving  them  the  legacy 
of  a  noble  life,  an  illustrious  career,  and  an  honorable  example. 

His  comrades  of  the  war,  the  people,  his  State,  and  the  nation 
mourn  his  loss,  and  will  vainly  seek  to  fill  the  place  in  their 
counsels  and  their  hearts  left  vacant  by  his  death. 

If  he  had  faults  or  weaknesses,  they  were  in  his  excessive  gener 
osity,  his  open-hearted  frankness,  his  amiability  of  temper,  his 
wonderful  unselfishness,  his  splendid  magnanimity. 

I  think  I  may  justly  assert  that  his  only  faults  sprang  from 
the  development  of  his  illustrious  virtues. 

He  has  gone  to  his  reward ;  and  I  feel  sure  that  the  Great  Arbiter 
of  the  universe  will  deal  tenderly  with  that  great  spirit  in  which 
those  who  knew  him  most  intimately  could  find  no  guile. 

Although,  in  proportion  to  her  small  population  and  limited 
territory,  Rhode  Island  has  furnished  many  names  of  great  men 
and  distinguished  heroes  to  decorate  the  pages  of  our  country's 
history,  there  is  no  name  upon  that  illustrious  roll  which  she  more 
affectionately  and  confidently  commits  to  the  appreciative  consider 
ation  of  posterity  than  that  of  her  favorite  and  honored  son, 
AMBROSE  EVERETT  BURNSIDE. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted ;  and  accordingly  (at 
four  o'clock  and  fifteen  minutes  p.  m.)  the  House  adjourned. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

RENEWALS  ONLY — TEL.  NO.  642-3405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


OCT3     196987 

n  i  \  'in  1  PM 

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R14  /U-lr 

MAR  1  1  1982 

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HPO     JUN  1  0  1 

382 

LD21A-60m-6,'69 
(J9096slO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


YD   12448 


